If you heard that the National Institutes of Health was funding research on lizards, you might at first think that the N.I.H. was wasting taxpayer money. But in fact, a researcher at the Veteran’s Affair’s Medical Center in the Bronx discovered that the venom of Gila monsters (lizards from the Southwest of the U.S.A.) is an excellent promoter of insulin, the hormone that our bodies use to regulate sugar levels. Further work from a researcher at the National Institute on Aging helped take that discovery to the clinic and to production of a drug now widely used to combat type 2 diabetes. Thanks to government-funded scientists and their research, Gila monsters are saving lives.