I agree. Show me what possible use these heavy elements have? Exotic power sources, faster that light travel, fusion power control? And at what cost? Talk about adding to the national debt!!
name it Trumpium after Trump
Probably no use in themselves. Studying the half-life, mass and other properties (e.g. the decay history) of heavier elements gives clues and insights into the nature of the atomic nucleus, and nuclear physics.
We are still learning. Curiosity and intellectual restlessness are among the things that makes us human. Studying the stars, as Galileo, Copernicus, Ptolemy, and Kepler did, had little practical value, except for casting horoscopes. Since there were paying customers, including emperors and kings who relied on astrologers, there was some value in it, I suppose, though the scientific value of horoscopes is nugatory. But the desire to understand the stars was a necessary first step to making cell phones, satellites, HDTV, computers, electrical generators, GPS, and all the other things that enrich modern life.
Yes, you can be completely ignorant of positional astronomy, and a fine engineer, but is was through the stars that we arrived at where we are today. And we still have much to learn.