While that process was under way, other agents were growing increasingly frustrated by stonewalling lab managers at Los Alamos.

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Like the mice in the lab experiment, managers and employees were anxious about the consequences of failure and felt it more prudent to continue doing what they had always done.

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At Venter's former genetics lab, the not-for-profit Institute for Genomic Research, managers battled over control of grant money and equipment while his 23-year marriage to renowned genomic scientist Claire Fraser (who ran the place) fell apart.

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