My D20 goes to a very diverse school with a very small population of geniuses, most of whom seem to concentrate on sciences. These are the kids who start taking APs freshman year. Each year, one or two is in the principal’s office and/or guidance office on the verge of a nervous breakdown because they can’t tolerate anything less than perfection. I would equate many of these kids to trained monkeys - they have been taught that if they do X, then they will receive the reward. However, I have also found that few of these kids really go on to make a difference. They have such a fear of failure that they are afraid to try. And, that is my answer to your question. Why would the lab want regular kids? Because regular kids have already failed and they know that the world is not going to end. They have a different confidence in themselves that eventually they will take their failures, learn from them, apply them, fail again and again, and eventually find what works. Never discount the power of perseverance. And, I would think this would be especially true in research which not only REQUIRES perseverance but also the confidence to be creative and break the rules to discover … whatever. Also, let’s be honest, those super genius kids can sometimes be annoying, bossy, pains in the you-know-what. Who wants to deal with that day in and day out?