1. Putting Fish on Treadmills

In 2017, Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona shared a list of the most extravagant tax splurges he could identify. Get ready for this: One involved the famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which was given a $560,000 grant by the National Science Foundation.

Yes, that money came from taxes. The goal? As part of a 2009 study, the scientists wanted to see the fish’s progress and recovery, so they forced the aquatic animals to exercise to exhaustion on treadmills.

The researchers chose mudskippers because of their special ability to use their fins as legs for prolonged periods of time when out of their natural habitat — water. After this, the exhausted fish were given two days to rest before hitting the gym again.