The Lab Rats Next Door: Don't try this at home? One grandma asks why not

摘要

For better or worse, we're living in the age of the amateur, Wikipe-dia has replaced the encyclopedia, bloggers are breaking stories faster than paid journalists, and consumer reviews have edged out the salesman s expertise. It s all possible because millions of dabblers - ordinary folks motivated by passion, altruism or good old ego - are willing to do this work for no pay. Some spend long hours conducting rigorous product tests or even performing quasi-scientific experiments on themselves, exploring topics such as sleep deprivation or the digestibility of goat's milk. But all that amateur effort pales in comparison to the recent work of a San Diego woman who questioned the safety of aspartame. Victoria Inness-Brown, a soft-spoken 60-year-old grandmother with flowing silver hair, conducted her own two-and-a-half-year experiment at home, feeding NutraSweet to rats.