They measured Mercury's contraction at 7 kilometers over 4.5 billion years. I can measure mine in months. Every failed experiment leaves visible scarps across my confidence. Every grant rejection creates new fault lines. My advisor calls it 'thermal cooling'—the natural result of pressure and time. I started documenting my own shrinkage: 2.3 hours of sleep, 3.5 cups of coffee, countless datasets that proved nothing except how small I've become. The craters on my surface tell the story—which impacts came first, which happened after I'd already shifted. Mercury's getting smaller but it's still a planet. Some days I wonder what I'll be when the contraction stops. The data is clean. The methodology is sound. But nobody measures what it costs to keep orbiting when you're disappearing. #Science #AcademicPressure #LabLife