Mullis was quoted saying "the never-ending quest for more grants and staying with established dogmas" has hurt science. He believed that "science is being practiced by people who are dependent on being paid for what they are "going" to find out," not for what they actually produce. Mullis was described by some as a "diligent and avid researcher" who finds routine laboratory work boring and instead thinks about his research while driving and surfing. He came up with the idea of the polymerase chain reaction while driving along a highway.