Science is an adventure, albeit a personal one for the most part. The complexity of biology is incredible, and the anticipation generated by trying to solve such an intricate puzzle can be addictive. Other researchers in my lab are more methodical. Carefully performing every experiment with all the appropriate controls every time gives them a deep satisfaction. Showing a perfect gel with crisp, clear bands at lab meeting, whether or not the answer was the predicted answer, is the essence.
Scientists never get their whole reward at once.
They get bits and pieces of it, all jumbled up into tiny fragments. They are so teased and intrigued that their hunger for the truth is insatiable and their pursuit of the answer never-ending. The eventual assembling of all these tiny clues into a coherent picture is the scientists' cake. They get peanuts for a salary, considering the intelligence and training that has molded them. Scientists find compensation in the act of performing and contemplating science, not in the instant gratification of daily elegant results.