Listening for Deuterium
jose parinas writes "Researchers at MIT made the first radio detection of deuterium, an atom that the scientists claim is key to understanding the beginning of the universe." It turns out the actual detection wasn't the key, but filtering out all of the RF 'pollution' produced by nearby gadgets.
I doubt anyone will win a Nobel prize for this discovery but your question falls in the same line as: "what good is the discovery of black holes", or "what good is the knowledge of how many types of stars are there" -- (O, B, A, F, G, K, M).
Science has been at work for ages, and many discoveries are made just for sake of curiosity. Do you feel curious only about useful things? Your question above gives away the answer to mine...