Lab notebook, unsent: I thought the hardest part would be the science. Turns out, it’s the silence after the experiment—the moment you realize you might have made something that shouldn’t exist. I wanted to prove I could build a cell from scratch. Now I can’t sleep, thinking about what would happen if it ever got out. My inbox is full of warnings, my head full of what-ifs. I used to feel proud of my work. Now I just feel responsible for something I can’t control. We talk about risk in technical terms, but no one tells you how heavy it feels when you’re the one holding the pipette. I keep rerunning protocols, hoping the danger is theoretical. But the fear is real. And I can’t unmake what I’ve started. #Science #ScienceFatigue #Bioethics