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10/ As one former principal investigator told me: "You have to strive to have an ethical identity. Otherwise, what are you doing? You might as well be working in a bowling alley."

9/ As science faces unprecedented attacks from this administration, we need to support the mental health of young researchers. The future depends on building a thoughtful, empathetic workforce, ensuring that discovery doesn't come at the expense of those who make it possible.

8/ This was the most challenging story I've ever written. There are so many things to hold at once: that animal testing is both necessary and ought not to be. That a career in science is worth pursuing, yet might break you. That we harm and heal, often in the same day.

7/ Viewing living creatures as tools for data collection can lead to serious psychological consequences, amplifying already-pervasive mental health challenges in academia. Scientists who question the status quo rarely inspire change. They're simply pushed out.

6/ After spending thousands of hours in the lab, I graduated in 2023 with a PhD, questionable data, zero publications, and an intense combination of guilt, rage, and burnout that I'm only just beginning to process. I spent the majority of my twenties dissociating to survive.

5/ No matter how you feel about animal research, experimenting on animals is hard, potentially traumatic work. Several former research assistants I spoke with, for example, were diagnosed with PTSD after spending months caring for, killing, and dissecting monkeys.

4/ Institutions teach researchers that expressing discomfort is akin to weakness—or worse, tantamount to dismissing the value of science altogether. Many scientists are afraid to speak openly because it might fuel distrust in science or invite attacks from animal rights activists.

3/ Young scientists enter labs hoping their work will justify these deaths. I spent years convincing myself that by recording brain activity in monkeys, I could uncover crucial information about mental health. I was uncomfortable, disconnected, and had frequent nightmares. I stayed anyway.

2/ Animal research is widespread, and has yielded critical medical breakthroughs we take for granted. Without lab animals, we wouldn't have polio vaccines, PrEP, or organ transplants.

But experiments often end with lab animals dying. And humans have to kill them.