Notes on a pilgrimage to science: A fly on the wall

The paper is a set of reflections on the in oral culture of modern biology built around the author's experience as a participant observer in two unive rsity laboratories. I draw parallels between laboratory culture and organiz ed religion and point out practical problems in conducting scientific resea rch. The notion that good biologists must be atheists is questioned and fai lures of organized religion are noted. The paper concludes with a suggestio n that research ethics should be rooted in laboratory practice and must inc lude vigorous principles of honesty and justice. Those are not requirements imposed from outside but internal requirements of the research community.