[awkward]

So many other good details that get to how impossibly multivariate biology research is, like the need to have several days at the exact temperature.

It's not uncommon for results in biology to have this kind of snag in reproducibility even now. Sometimes it's due to attributing variations to something like "steady hands at the bench", but other times it can even be a deliberate attempt to prevent rivals from duplicating a process before it can be patented and privatized.

[microtherion]

cf The Harvard Law: "Under controlled conditions of light, temperature, humidity, and nutrition, the organism will do as it damn well pleases."