My Quest to Discover the Lesser of Two Evils by Charity Robbins

Hello Everyone! It has been a few weeks since I’ve last updated you all on my experience in TRIP so far. My gosh! The weeks have just been flying by. I have had so much fun getting to know everyone and making new friends. The people in my session truly add to the likability of the overall experience. We have learned so many useful lab, communication, and collaborative skills so far in so little time. I am honestly shocked! I am just now finishing up on my introductory experiment which focused on how female fertility is impacted by Black Cohosh and a High Sugar Diet. The experiment was really helpful in allowing me to gain familiarity in the lab setting that we work in. I was introduced to how to quantify and analyze data, new assays, as well as how to communicate my findings effectively. While conducting research on an experiment assigned by the instructors was definitely both exciting and challenging, it made me very happy to begin doing research on a topic of my own choosing.

We have learned so many useful lab, communication, and collaborative skills so far in so little time.

The project that I decided on focuses on the effects that Coca-Cola and its “healthier” counterpart Coke Zero has on cognitive memory. While these two things may seem completely unrelated to some, I actually did some research and discovered that there are many studies linking them together. According to studies, consumers of sugary beverages such as Coca-Cola are more likely to have poor memory compared to others because of its excessive amount of high fructose corn syrup.  Now, I may not have chosen this topic if I hadn’t learned that diet soda isn’t any better for your brain than normal soda. As a new self proclaimed coke zero aficionado, these articles were absolutely terrifying and brought me to ultimately choosing what to study for my independent project! If my evidence points to this being true, it could be absolutely awful for the average American which drinks about 45 gallons of soda a year.

Today in the lab, we actually began working on our projects. I am using 5 different vials with varying conditions. One vial includes no soda, two contain the equivalent of ~ 2 cans of coke/coke zero a day, and the final two has ~12 cans of coke/ coke zero per day.

​Truthfully, I am hoping that Coke Zero has no significant impact on memory. But if it does, perhaps I will stick to the occasional regular Coke. I may even just cut out Coke and sugary drinks all together and enjoy some good, reliable, and refreshing water!