The mouse is mightier than the sword!

Of Mice and Men [sub req], an article in Harper's, states that mouse breeding for research is an $80 billion a year industry. After buying them, our lab spends $120,000 a year just keep them well fed and happy.

The article is an entertaining read if only for some of the inaccuracies: the boss is usually called the "PI" rather than the "principal," short for principal investigators and we usually experiment on male mice, not females, etc.