On Sept. 3, 2025, The Golden Goose Award, which spotlights obscure, silly sounding or odd fundamental discovery research that has led to outsized societal benefits, has announced awardees for the 14th annual season:

Disease Diagnostics: The “father of modern cell biology” who studied nature’s oddities (e.g., pond scum and frog egg cells) informed disease diagnostics and mentored award-winning scientists, including a Nobel Prize winner. 

Testicular Cancer Treatment: Researchers explored electric fields affecting cell division in E. coli bacteria that inadvertently led to the drug cisplatin, which has resulted in a 90% survival rate (up from 10%) for patients with testicular cancer — largely giving affected men aged 15-35 a new lease on life.

“The Golden Goose awardees definitively demonstrate that federally funded American science continues to deliver for all of us. These discoveries show that American science is anything but stagnant. AAAS and the American people will continue to support federal investment in research that can make us healthier, safer, and stronger,” said Sudip S. Parikh, chief executive officer at AAAS and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. 

Former U.S. Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) inspired the creation of this award as a strong counterpoint to criticisms that fundamental discovery research was wasteful federal spending.

Almost a decade and a half later, these awardees exemplify what is at stake as the U.S. administration’s budget request seeks to cut this type of research by about one third. Congress has until September 30 to determine fiscal year 2026 funding levels for research and development amid disruptions to funding disbursements for the current fiscal year. 

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals. The AAAS has individual members in more than 91 countries around the globe.