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Beautiful Minds
14 February 2017

Beautiful Minds

Fractals are repeating patterns found in beautiful natural phenomena like this peacock’s tail. Unique as fingerprints, they’re also found in human creations – analysing fractals in brush strokes can separate authentic works of art from fakes. New research suggests that an artist’s fractal ‘signature’ may change with the onset of neurodegenerative disease. The study, which analysed paintings from seven different artists, found distinctive changes in the fractal patterns of painters like James Brooks who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and Salvador Dali, who developed Parkinson’s disease later in life. Similar studies find that linguistic patterns may also change as the brain begins to deteriorate. Such early signs provide clues to how cognitive disorders affect different behaviours and may ultimately suggest ways to treat patients earlier.

Written by John Ankers

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.