In investigating how particular organisms became standard objects of scientific study, historians have tended to focus on the role of particular research communities (Kohler 1994) or institutions (Rader 2004) in these processes. More difficult to conceptualize are the forces shaping scientific organisms that extend beyond these units of analysis. This paper will examine the “reproducibility crisis”—a recent phenomenon where scientists across fields have found findings to be difficult to replicate on subsequent analysis—and how this crisis intersects with the evolving life courses of experimental organisms. Specifically, the paper will focus on attempts to standardize mouse housing and testing conditions, such as recommendations to harmonize variables such as the temperature in mouse housing rooms. Over the last ten years, numerous institutions have begun advocating for increased standardization in animal research in the name of enhanced reproducibility, including major funders (eg. the National Institutes of Health), major journals (eg. Science magazine), and professional organizations (eg. the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research). The impact of these initiatives extends far beyond the boundaries of any particular research community, however defined. This paper will argue that analysis at the level of the institution or the community fails to adequately characterize the reproducibility crisis, which derives its ability to shape scientific organism and practices from the alignment of multiple institutions, much as a magnet derives its strength from aligning the polarity of individual atoms.
