I maintain that the best analogy for life sciences research is naval exploration. Some people tell tales of their great voyages but never set foot on a boat. So

I maintain that the best analogy for life sciences research is naval exploration. Some people tell tales of their great voyages but never set foot on a boat. Some sailed, yet found nothing, and still spin a story to avoid embarrassment. And some actually found America. Science is obsessed with these stories enshrined in journal articles, which are elevated to the status of artefacts of knowledge, complete with Excel spreadsheets in the supplementary info. Creating such artefacts determines everything in your scientific career. That is the actual problem in my opinion. Of course people will want to fake these powerful status symbols.