This semester has been extremely busy, but now that it is winding down, the last major project we have to finish is our Anatomy and Physiology Symposium Presentation. For this assignment, we had to write a research proposal, conduct an experiment, and put together a poster and short presentation about our results. It sounds easy, but a lot of effort and preparation is needed to pull off even a relatively simple experiment. Even though it is a lot of work, I really enjoy this project because the professors give us a lot of freedom to explore areas that we find interesting.
Many of the groups in our class have really creative projects; some are looking at the physiological effects of caffeine, while others are analyzing the effect video games have on certain brain waves. Our group decided to investigate how we perceive taste, more specifically how we taste a difference between regular sugar and artificial sweeteners. After collecting and analyzing our data all of last week, we are just about ready to put the finishing touches on our poster. With less than a week until we present, it's crunch time!