Rebecca loves reading because "when I read, anything is possible." She plays the piano and flute and enjoys tennis, volleyball, and gymnastics. Rebecca is interested in pursuing a career in chemistry because it "is logical and makes a lot of sense." Her mentor is her science teacher. "She encouraged us to use science in and out of class," she explains.
A component of rocket fuel, perchlorate now pollutes the Colorado River, a source of drinking water for 20 million people in the West. Rebecca decided to test perchlorate on water fleas (Daphnia), known to be a good model for cardiotoxicity.
Rebecca dosed her water fleas with 3 concentrations of perchlorate solution. To measure heart rate, she placed a flea on a cavity slide and watched it under a videomicroscope. Looking through the scope, she could count the fleas' heartbeats. She found that the fleas' heart rates increased by up to 40%. Feeding the fleas the antioxidant (and popular Indian spice) tumeric rapidly reduced the fleas' heart rates. Rebecca concluded that tumeric might be a "natural, economic, and readily available antidote" to perchlorate poisoning.
