These revelations came to light when DOGE posted on X, listing specific programs like a study on whether a Thanos robot could snap its fingers, costing $118,000, and a Harvard research grant of $75,000 to investigate how lizards react when blown off trees with leaf blowers.
These projects were funded at various times with significant amounts of taxpayer money.
The ‘smart toilet’ study was part of a Stanford project backed by nearly $7 million, aiming to use AI to monitor health through unique ‘anal prints’. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invested $2.3 million in research involving dogs and cocaine to study cardiovascular impacts, drawing public scrutiny.
These examples underscore the broader mission of DOGE, established by President-elect Donald Trump, to audit and reform government spending, with Musk at the helm, aiming to save trillions by eliminating inefficient expenditures.