Fame
One thing's for sure. When you sign on to become a cell biologist, you're not aiming for mediocrity.
Biologists working with stem cells have gotten a lot of press. Most of it positive. In 2012, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded jointly to John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka (source).
Yuck, right? You have to share your Nobel? Fame is meant for one person at a time. James Thomson would understand. He's basically stem cell biology's golden boy: an American, a proud sweater-wearer, the recipient of awards with long names like the King Faisal International Prize and the Albany Medical Center Prize, and most importantly, two-time cover boy for TIME magazine.
But to land those covers, our boy James had to discover the human embryonic stem cell and the induced pluripotent stem cell (source).
What if you still want the spotlight, but you're a little...lazier? Don't worry; there's a role for you. Just look to Japan, where Haruko Obokata made headlines after she fabricated super-important research (source).
And if that's not enough, think of Hwang Woo-Suk, who was convicted of embezzling research funds and illegally buying human eggs for his experiments (source). Not the best guy...but famous.
Make that infamous. It's definitely better to be like James: hardworking and a little bit lucky.