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By analyzing the hi-hat in a hit single, physicists demonstrate a uniquely human way of keeping a beat.

1980s Pop Song Reveals Fractal Rhythms of the Human Mind

<p>
 Pop music in the 1980s was full of weirdness, but no amount of Madonna or
 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g">
  “The Safety Dance”
 </a>
 will prepare you for what scientists recently found in a Michael McDonald song—fractals.
</p>
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<p>
 Physicist Holger Henning and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Germany found self-similar patterns in the drum pattern of a recording of the 80s hit song “I Keep Forgettin’.” This pop classic features drummer Jeff Porcoro, who was a member of Toto and has played for other big names like Steely Dan, Madonna, and Pink Floyd.
</p>
<p>
</p>
<div>
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CnjEzx7Glr8?feature=oembed" width="459"></iframe>
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<p>
 Loosely speaking, a fractal pattern is distinctly recognizable no matter how much you zoom in or out, a property known as self-similarity. For example, if you show a pattern to a person looking through a microscope and to an astronaut looking down from orbit with a telescope, and they describe the same thing, then that pattern is self-similar. Fractal patterns show up both in mathematics and nature, from the intricate contours of the
 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set#/media/File:Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set.jpg">
  Mandelbrot set
 </a>
 to the mesmerizing florets of the broccoli-like vegetable
 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesco_broccoli#/media/File:Fractal_Broccoli.jpg">
  romanesco
 </a>
 . Scientists recently noticed that when people make musical rhythms, the resultant pattern of sound has a fractal nature.
</p>
<p>
 The signature rhythm in “I Keep Forgettin’” comes from Porcaro’s handiwork on pedal-operated cymbal known as a “hi-hat.” Porcaro fires off four “hi-hats” per beat, for a total of nearly 1,000 hi-hats by the end of the song. The study authors analyzed the distinctive sound of a hi-hat in order to filter out all the other instruments. They then looked at two properties of the pattern of hi-hats: the spacing between hits, and how loud each hit was.
</p>
<p>
 Here’s Kerry Klein, reporting for Science News:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
 Both the intervals between sixteenth notes and their volumes wavered throughout the piece. Moreover, those variations were similar on time scales ranging from a few seconds to the length of the entire song (3 minutes and 39 seconds), showing that the pattern formed fractals, the researchers reported on 3 June in PLOS ONE. “It seems that the timekeeper in the brain not only produces fractal timing,” Hennig says, “but likely also fractal intensity or, in this case, loudness.”
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
 Hennig and his team found that both the intervals and volumes could be described by a fractal pattern called “1/f noise.” In this kind of noise, each octave carries the same amount of energy per unit time. The description is sometimes referred to as “pink noise” because visible light whose spectrum has this property is a pink color. The self-similarity comes up in how the pause between two hi-hats depends on the pauses already played. If the size of the space between two hi-hats is just as correlated with the five preceding spaces as it is with the preceding 50 or 500—that is, if it depends on the entire song so far—then the pattern of pauses is self-similar. The loudness followed the same idea.
</p>
<p>
 What’s more, the loudness and spacing were independent of each other, suggesting Porcaro was controlling them separately. The work, a glimpse into the brain of a talented and prolific musician, offers a fascinating picture of what makes human music human.
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
<p>
 Photo credit:
 <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29143375@N05/3834566855/">
  Gamma Ray Productions/Flickr (CC BY-SA)
 </a>
</p>

<p>By analyzing the hi-hat in a hit single, physicists demonstrate a uniquely human way of keeping a beat.</p>

Hunting the Hidden Dimension

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Hunting the Hidden Dimension

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<p>

NOVA explores the fascinating world of fractals and looks at how they can be used to better understand everything from coastlines and rainforests to weather systems and human physiology.
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<p>
The program:
</p>
<ul type="circle">
<li><p>reports on one of the first applications of fractal geometry&#8212;when a Boeing computer scientist in 1978 applied principles of fractal geometry to create a mountain background for a plane for publicity photos.</p></li>
<li><p>introduces Beno&#238;t Mandelbrot's realization that many forms in nature can be described mathematically as "fractals," a word he invented to describe shapes that look jagged, or broken, or that do not conform to traditional geometry.</p></li>
<li><p>explains that fractals are produced by taking a smooth-looking shape and dividing it repeatedly in a process known as iteration.</p></li>
<li><p>describes one of the defining characteristics of a fractal&#8212;self-similarity&#8212;a state in which an object looks the same regardless of the distance from which it is viewed, or in which an object's parts look similar to the whole object.</p></li>
<li><p>notes that prior to Mandelbrot's discovery of fractal geometry in the 1970s, mathematicians relied on classical mathematics to describe geometric shapes but had no mechanism for characterizing the erratic patterns that existed in nature.</p></li>
<li><p>recounts that while he was working at IBM, Mandelbrot noticed patterns in phone-line transmissions that reminded him of a hundred-year-old mystery known as mathematical "monsters."</p></li>
<li><p>illustrates some of the monsters, including the Cantor set, Koch's snowflake, and the Julia set.</p></li>
<li><p>shows how Mandelbrot used the Julia set to create his own equation, which, when iterated and graphed on a computer, generated the well-known Mandelbrot set.</p></li>
<li><p>notes that many pure mathematicians turned against Mandelbrot when his work first appeared, and that even today some mathematicians maintain that his work has done little to advance math theory.</p></li>
<li><p>presents some of the many ways fractals are used and applied to everyday life, including measuring coastlines, creating special effects in film, downsizing wire antennas, better understanding human physiology, and investigating why large animals use energy more efficiently than small ones.</p></li> 
<li><p>follows researchers to a Costa Rican rainforest, where they try to determine whether applying fractal geometry to data from a single tree can reveal information about how much carbon dioxide the entire rainforest can absorb.</p></li>
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"I heard fractals described endless times as 'pretty pictures but pretty useless,'" recalls Benoit Mandelbrot, the inventor of fractal geometry. Mandelbrot knew better, and today applications for fractals are, he says, "so numerous and diverse you wouldn't believe it."

A Radical Mind

<p data-block-key="8kj7t">Benoit Mandelbrot, the father of fractals and fractal geometry, was a true maverick, as this interview reveals.</p>

Midwest Earthquakes: Expert Q&A

<div id="ate-content">
<div class="ate-qa first">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> How likely is it that this fault will slip, and what is the potential magnitude of the fault and consequent danger to the surrounding area? <span class="attrib">Bryon Black, Woodruff, Wisconsin</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Beatrice Magnani: </span> We have no reason to believe that the two faults we discovered during our seismic survey along the Mississippi River are presently active. Although the faults show displacement of the Quaternary alluvium, which indicates activity at least during the last two million years, no seismicity is observed along them today.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> Is there any evidence when or if there were any earthquakes before the large New Madrid 1811 quake?</p>
<p class="question">
			Also, what is the best current answer as to why such large quakes are occurring on a supposedly non-tectonic boundary? <span class="attrib">Ted Pierce, Berkeley, California</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> I am not aware of any foreshock sequence in the case of the 1811–1812 events. Consider that at that time the Mississippi Valley was scarcely populated and, unlike today, there were no seismometers on the ground to record even the slightest ground motion. If there were foreshocks before the destructive events of the 1811–1812, they might have gone undetected.</p>
<p class="answer">
			As for why there are large magnitude earthquakes so far away from a plate boundary is still a puzzle, and we don't have a good answer yet. We are working on it!</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> Hi. From time to time we hear about some earthquake in the news, and I'm wondering if it is possible to predict the onset of an earthquake say a few days before it happens. Thanks! <span class="attrib">Kennedy Junior High School, 8th Grade, Naperville, Illinois</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> Kennedy,<br/>
			I wish we could predict earthquakes a few days before they happen! Alas, we can't. We can't tell when and where exactly an earthquake of a particular magnitude will occur, but we can calculate the probability of an earthquake of a certain magnitude occurring in a determinate place over a certain number of years.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> Dear Dr. Magnani,<br/>
			I heard that "sand blows"—evidence of previous major seismic events—have recently been found in far southeast Arkansas and northeast Louisiana. This is well over 100 miles south of the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Is it likely that these features were formed by earthquakes with epicenters in far southeastern Arkansas, an area not traditionally known for seismic activity? <span class="attrib">Chris King, North Little Rock, Arkansas</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> Indeed, it is likely that a fault or more faults, additional to the faults that are now generating earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, might have been active in the area and might have caused the sand blows found in southeast Arkansas and northeast Louisiana. Discovering these faults is the main goal of the Mississippi River seismic survey my colleague and I are conducting.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> Are we looking at a California-type potential of an earthquake environment in Memphis? If so, what is the time frame that we are looking at for this to begin, according to the current geological circumstances? <span class="attrib">Randy G., Memphis, Tennessee</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> I am assuming you are referring to the faults newly discovered along the river. We have no indication that these faults are active today, although they show activity at least during the Quaternary, which, geologically speaking, is considered recent compared to the long tectonic history of this part of the continent.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> I have heard the New Madrid Fault described as a "failed rift." Can you please explain the difference between this and a regular garden-variety fault like the San Andreas? <span class="attrib">Michael LaVoice, Millington, Tennessee</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> In general, a failed rift (or aulacogen) is a tectonic feature that forms when a continent is pulled apart by tensional stresses imposed by plate tectonic forces. If the rifting process continues long enough (i.e., millions of years), the continent continues to thin, eventually breaks apart, and a new ocean forms between the rifted margins. The Atlantic Ocean is a typical example of a successful rifting process that broke the supercontinent Pangea during the Mesozoic.</p>
<p class="answer">
			In some cases, the rifting process ends before the continental break-up, and the failed rift becomes inactive, subsides, and is buried under sediments, remaining like a scar in the middle of the continent.</p>
<p class="answer">
			Rifting processes are associated with normal (extensional) faults, where the blocks slip away from each other. Although a component of strike-slip movement can be present, vertical motion dominates. Along strike-slip faults, such as the San Andreas, the blocks slide past each other, with little vertical movement relative to the horizontal motion.</p>
<p class="answer">
			Faults that were active during the rifting process might become reactivated at a later time, under favorable conditions. This is the case of the New Madrid fault system, located within the Reelfoot rift that failed ~500 million years ago.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> Is there a correlation between the path of the Mississippi River and the fault? Which is older, the river or the fault? <span class="attrib">Mike Spagle, Huntington Beach, California</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> We have reasons to believe that the faults we discovered have been active for a long time, possibly for the past 60 million years. The present Mississippi river valley was mostly shaped during the recent glacial stage of the Great Ice Age, between 75,000 and 12,000 years ago. So where the Mississippi River flows through the New Madrid Seismic Zone, the faults that are active today are deforming the landscape, controlling the path of the river.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> Does mining in an earthquake area exacerbate an earthquake? <span class="attrib">A. Wiseman, Alton, Illinois</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> Mining usually occurs at depths that are much shallower than most seismogenic zones (i.e., the portion of the crust that is capable of generating earthquakes). However, if mining activity is extensive (e.g., in South Africa), then it could affect the state of stress of the upper crust, and it might, in turn, affect the occurrence of earthquakes along favorably oriented faults.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> A week ago on NOVA they talked about how fractals can be used to measure shorelines, veins, trees, and heartbeats. Could fractals be used to measure and predict earthquakes? <span class="attrib">James Fritzler</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> Fractals can be used to model both distribution of faults with characteristic earthquakes and distribution of earthquakes along one fault. Tectonic models for fractal distribution of faults have been proposed since the 1980s.</p>
</div>
<div class="ate-qa">
<p class="question">
<span class="qa-start">Q:</span> Could an earthquake in the Midwest cause a shift in the flow of the Mississippi River, as it did in the 1811–12 earthquakes, and could that have effects as far south as New Orleans?</p>
<p class="question">
			Secondly, can anything be done to prepare the people living in the Midwest for such an earthquake? <span class="attrib">Anonymous</span></p>
<p class="answer">
<span class="qa-start">Magnani: </span> The most active seismic area in the Midwest, the New Madrid Seismic Zone, is indeed capable of generating earthquakes that can rupture the Mississippi River bed and cause it to flow backwards. We know that the 1811–1812 earthquakes were felt over a large region (up to about 1,000 miles away) and that damage was widespread over an area of 450 miles radius.</p>
<p class="answer">
			A great effort is being made at the federal, state, and city level to prepare the Midwest for the occurrence of a large-magnitude earthquake such as those that hit this region in 1811–1812. These efforts include increasing the awareness of the seismic hazard in this region; reducing earthquake risk to people, property, systems, and communities; and supporting research to understand the spatial and time distribution of earthquakes as well as their effects.<img alt="" border="0" class="incopy" height="7" src="/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/images/nav-end.gif" width="7"/></p>
</div>
</div>

Geophysicist Beatrice Magnani answers questions about the New Madrid Seismic Zone and its deadly potential.

Charlie Brown’s Endocrine System?

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<p>
  I love how biology teacher Caryn Babaian suggested her students learn anatomy by sketching out Charlie Brown’s insides. Maybe if I’d had a teacher like Caryn, I wouldn’t have gone through school thinking biology was just about cutting up frogs and persecuting little mice.
 </p>
<p>
  The video interview with Caryn caused my mind to go off in all directions. Caryn’s fashion sense inspired me, too. (Take a good look at that great get-up she’s wearing in the video!) Listening to Caryn, I was suddenly interested in Leonardo’s Notebook, in cave drawings as an early means of illustrating biology, in artist teachers in history, and in the Bela Legosi film “The Devil Bat”!
 </p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/leaf_BEXzrXR.width-990_5UezbZC.jpg"/>
<figcaption>Close observation of nature has its rewards
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
  But most of all, I took to heart what Caryn said about the value of seeing by drawing, for example, a leaf. I remembered “Leaf by Niggle,” a short story by J.R.R. Tolkien. In that story, artist Niggle paints a tree, beginning with a careful rendering of a single leaf. We can interpret the story in many ways, but the more attention he pays to his leaf, the more he sees—within the leaf, around, and beyond it.
 </p>
<p>
  Observing closely what we observe in nature—and drawing or otherwise trying to recreate what we see is the best way to do that—we enter into it. By paying attention we do more than learn terms we can repeat on a test: We can use careful observation as a ritual. By focusing and seeing—really seeing—the architecture of an endocrine system, the anatomy of a leaf or the social habits of an ant, the pattern of conch shells, fractals, snowflakes, and cells, we can live in the moment and at the same time get reminded of what a tiny space we occupy in Deep Time. We can become more mindful and appreciative of what cell biologist Ursula Goodenough called the sacred depths of nature.
 </p>
</section>

Physics of the Future, Fractals Found, and Our Carbon Footprint: NOVA Next Week in Review

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://to.pbs.org/1HDENTg" target="_blank">
   This Week’s NOVA Next Feature
  </a>
</h2>
<p>
  Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek predicts a century of advances
  <a href="http://to.pbs.org/1HDENTg">
   in physics and beyond
  </a>
  .
 </p>
<p>
  In other news from NOVA and around the web:
 </p>
<ul>
<li>
   Scientists have
   <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/magazine/can-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-explain-your-mood.html">
    a gut feeling
   </a>
   that this burgeoning field will keep on growing.
  </li>
<li>
   “During one of the explosions,
   <a href="http://to.pbs.org/1HDES9s">
    I could see the bones
   </a>
   in my hand.”
  </li>
<li>
   Got bad breath? You might have
   <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiMSmDBvgto">
    tonsil stones
   </a>
   .
  </li>
<li>
   Scientists found fractals in
   <a href="http://to.pbs.org/1HDEU0Z">
    a Michael McDonald song
   </a>
   .
  </li>
<li>
   Gene therapy
   <a href="http://bit.ly/1ggjtsG">
    treatment for cystic fibrosis
   </a>
   could be available by 2020.
  </li>
</ul>
<p>
</p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/space.width-990_ft9jUb7.png"/>
<figcaption>A "bullet cluster."
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
   This week the Supreme Court blocked an EPA attempt
   <a href="http://nyti.ms/1LREwMf">
    to limit emissions of pollutants
   </a>
   from coal-fired power plants. What if we
   <a href="http://to.pbs.org/175zdtK">
    transitioned away
   </a>
   from coal-fired plants altogether?
  </li>
<li>
   At 10:17am EDT Tuesday,
   <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/summer-of-science-2015/latest/watch-venus-take-jupiter-in-a-race-around-the-sun">
    Venus and Jupiter
   </a>
   were at their closest.
  </li>
<li>
   Oxytocin is “
   <a href="http://bit.ly/1HpuMuF">
    shedding its reputation
   </a>
   as a cuddle chemical.” What’s
   <em>
    really
   </em>
   going on with this hormone:
  </li>
<li>
   An extra second was added
   <a href="http://bit.ly/1HseyiB">
    at midnight GMT on Tuesday
   </a>
   so that Earth’s rotation could catch up with atomic clocks.  Learn
   <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS3MkLamhI8">
    why atomic clocks are so important
   </a>
   in our everyday lives.
  </li>
</ul>
<p>
</p>
<div class="cove-box flex-video" data-cove-id="2365322027" data-cove-params="&amp;topbar=false">
</div>
<div class="inline-caption">
  California has approved its new, strict
  <a href="http://to.pbs.org/1CHFHbU">
   vaccine requirements
  </a>
  for children. Watch "Vaccines—Calling the Shots" streaming online.
 </div>
<p>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
   Black holes could turn you into a hologram, and
   <a href="http://to.pbs.org/1HDFlbP">
    you wouldn’t even notice
   </a>
   .
  </li>
<li>
   Brazil’s president has pledged to reduce deforestation in a bid
   <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/brazil-aims-curb-deforestation-part-climate-pledge/">
    to trim its carbon footprint
   </a>
   .
  </li>
<li>
<a href="http://to.pbs.org/1HDFrAe">
    A new molecular diagnostic
   </a>
   could help forensic scientists determine time of death up to 10 days post mortem.
  </li>
<li>
   The internet is
   <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/07/02/weve-finally-hit-the-breaking-point-for-the-original-internet/">
    almost out
   </a>
   of the most commonly used type of address—IPv4.
  </li>
<li>
   Solar Impulse just set a record for
   <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33383521">
    a solo, un-refueled journey
   </a>
   .
  </li>
</ul>
</section>
<p>
 Photo credit:
 <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/1e0657_scale.jpg">
  Wikimedia Commons
 </a>
</p>

When paired with a strain of bacteria, donuts may not be that bad for you.

Thanks to Microbiome Boost, Donuts May Be Beneficial

<div class="related"></div>
<p>
<i>
  Editorial note: This article is a satirical piece posted for April fool's day.
 </i>
</p>
<p>
 Better make that a baker’s dozen.
</p>
<p>
 Researchers investigating how various foods affect the bacteria that live in our intestines happened upon a combination of carbohydrates and fats that will make any pastry lover happy.
</p>
<p>
 When eaten with the right strain of bacteria, researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands discovered that donuts may not be unhealthy after all. In fact, they could be beneficial in the same way that a beer after a strenuous workout helps speed recovery.
</p>
<p>
 The bacteria,
 <i>
  P. tursiops
 </i>
 , is a close relative to
 <i>
  P. corpi
 </i>
 , a strain that has been found to
 <a href="http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(15)00517-3">
  improve glucose and insulin responses
 </a>
 in people who have eaten wheat and barley bread but is also correlated with
 <a href="http://elifesciences.org/content/2/e01202v1">
  incidence of rheumatoid arthritis
 </a>
 .
</p>
<div class="ad"></div>
<p>
 The twist is that
 <i>
  P. tursiops
 </i>
 is only activated when it comes in contact with more readily accessible carbohydrates, like the sugars found in the glaze or frosting of a donut. When
 <i>
  P. tursiops
 </i>
 kicks into high gear, the result is an even release of fats over several hours that allows the body to make better use of the calories.
</p>
<p>
 “It appears as though the frying of dough traps the fat within the bread of the donut. This makes it hard to digest until these bacteria break down the dough,” said Olivie von Bollen, a professor of microbiology at Maastricht and lead author of the study.
</p>
<p>
 Simply eating an unglazed or unfrosted cake donut isn’t enough to activate
 <i>
  P. tursiops
 </i>
 , leaving the fat stuck to the carbohydrates in a gooey mess known as a gut bomb.
</p>
<p>
 Von Bollen and her team don’t know exactly why
 <i>
  P. tursiops
 </i>
 seems digest sugars in order of increasing complexity, but they suspect it has something to do with the distribution of lipopolysaccharides around the bacterium’s cell wall, which protect the cell against compounds found in bile, the digestive fluid. The curious arrangement—the cells resemble bloated dolphins—also inspired the name—
 <i>
  Tursiops
 </i>
 is the genus that contains bottlenose dolphins.
</p>
<p>
 “Fractals are found throughout nature, but it is rare to see them in two kingdoms of life in this way,” said Bettina Citroen, a graduate student in von Bollen’s lab and a coauthor on the paper.
</p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/dolphin-bacteria-hoax-1.width-990_I4EumCm.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
 Though von Bollen, Citroen, and their colleagues still have to map out the mechanism by which
 <i>
  P. tursiops
 </i>
 feasts on donuts, they’re investigating how to incorporate the probiotic into a hard candy similar to sprinkles. “Of course, the sprinkles will look like
 <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/physics/lhc-accidental-rainbow-universe/">
  rainbow
 </a>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/physics/dolphin-lasers/">
  dolphins
 </a>
 ,” Citroen said.
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
<p>
 Photo credits:
 <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/97546644@N02/14972491087/">
  leahwsprague/Flickr (CC BY NC)
 </a>
 Tyler Howe and Janice Carr/CDC
</p>

<p>Researchers have stumbled upon a strain of beneficial bacteria that seems to thrive on donuts&#x27; unique combination of sugar and fat.</p>