Katherine’s back alright! (Backstreet Boys voice) By Katherine Dankulich

Hi everyone, welcome back! Just wanted to let you know I’m not really sure why I’ve made so many song references, but I like it.  Anyway, you might be wondering what’s happened since the last blog? Well, LOTS. We’ve made food vials, stressed vials, ran assays (fancy word for test), analyzed data, presented our information, and have even drawn to get us ready for our graphical abstracts.

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Instead of just starting out independent research projects from day one, we began with screens to help us learn and improve upon skills we would need in order to be successful in the lab.  My screen was intended to test the impact of Rhodiola (an herb that grows in cold regions that has been used to treat depression and fatigue) and constant darkness on social space. The assay measured the distance between flies, the closer the flies, the more social they are, flies naturally are very social so it was no surprise to find the control flies (no drug, no stressor) right next to each other, but it was interesting to see that Rhodiola and constant darkness canceled each other out.  ​

As our screens come to an end, it is now time to start thinking of what we signed ourselves up to do on a Saturday (pretty crazy right, going to school even on a Saturday).  For my independent research project I had a few ideas floating through my head, does Coca-Cola tremendously impact fly health, does oregano oil helps with sickness, does cinnamon help with memory?  All these questions were racing through my head, but I wanted to do something that mattered, something that I could relate to my life. Something like memory. Memory has always intrigued me. How is it that we can remember every lyric to a song from five years ago, but can’t remember the Trig integrals that are needed for a test next period? It’s mind-boggling how amazing our memory really is.  But eventually that memory isn’t as great as it used to be, first it’s where did I leave the keys, then it’s what day is it, and eventually, it might even be who are you to a loved one. Cinnamon according to my sister has an amazing impact on memory, so much so that her coffee usually tastes more like cinnamon than coffee. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see the impact of cinnamon on larval memory, to see if a spice really does help, to see if I should start eating cinnamon buns on a daily basis? (Hopefully the results say yes!)

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