Geeky rant
Sometimes I think about science--- and it makes me say "why do we study these ridiculous things". I just read an article titled "A comparison of salivary pH in sympatric wild lemurs". (They actually had a point--- that acidity of diet does not affect toothwear in lemurs becuase they have saliva that buffers the effects... which doesn't really sound like a point of course... unless you hang out with people who study fossils... who would find this an essential thing to know becuase they like dead things and the toothware of fossil lemurs just can't be studied cause they're dead).
I mean really--- this may affect the life of like 10 people on the whole planet (and likely the life of no lemurs). Yet, if you can write a grant with enough bullshit in the introduction that it sounds like you read all the literature and form a coherent thought they will fund you anyway.
I am going to write a dissertation proposal titled "Examining the butt-fat of langurs: which monkeys have enough junk in their trunk". I bet someone will fund it.
Sadly however, no one wants to fund my real work.