Science is a gamble. Publication, applying for grants, student admissions and corporate relationships all involve high-stakes bets, a mixture of skill and luck, and often a bit of bluffing. Which game is science most like? It's not a slot machine, mindlessly addictive. In dark moments it may seem like roulette, with its powerful house advantage and long odds. Sometimes it's a horse race, when one thoroughbred laboratory noses out another in isolating a long-sought gene or subatomic particle. For Albert Sjoerdsma, sometimes called the father of clinical pharmacology, science was most like craps.
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