I just had fucking flashbacks to grad school about Luciferase. I never even THOUGHT about where the name came from. It's a pretty common thing to use to track markers in vivo in science. It's used for all kinds of things - but it's a TRACKER. It lights up so you can see which cells you've infected etc.
But let me tell you something about science - I was in a very prominent biomedical science PhD program in the mid 2000's and once I realized I was surrounded by liars and cheats i got the fuck out.
There was one honest guy in the whole building (not the program, the fucking BUILDING - 18 stories tall) One guy. And they kept him far, far away from everyone and called him crazy.
I walked into a lab once to "interview" for a rotation - live rat on a treadmill with half its brain cut open and filled with cyborg-ish sensors. I can't unsee that shit to this day.
so fucking glad i'm not still in science. I could tell stories…