Crush them if they come

A conversation at our weekly research group meeting today:

Student 1: I feel this is a key topic in planetary formation at the moment.

Student 2: I think Jones' group are working on it, I heard him give a talk recently where he mentioned this research.

Supervisor: Hmm, perhaps we should pursue this area.

Student 2: ..... you think we could do it & publish before Jones writes up his paper?!

Supervisor: Well, once an idea is out there it's anyone's game.

[There is a short moment of stunned silence.]

Postdoc (c'est moi!): ..... you're feeling incredibly competitive today.

Supervisor: Ah. I wonder what I had for breakfast. I should have it again.

[As a disclaimer, I've actually forgotten which group we were discussing, so no Jonses were harmed in the making of this group meeting.]