Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

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To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.

This is Scientific American's 60-second science. I'm Christopher in Taliatta.

There's a scene in the Matrix, where the character Cypher talks about the illusory experience of eating a fine meal.

And then he eats from the steak and he says,

I know this steak doesn't exist.

I know that when I put it in my mouth,

the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious.

Tastes so good. I prefer this virtual reality to the cruelty of the world.

Ignorance is bliss.

Recounting that scene is Carlos Ribeiro, a neuroscientist at the Champalimo Foundation in Portugal.

He has a special interest in that scene because he has essentially recreated that phenomenon in fruit flies.

This is exactly how you are doing to the fly.

Here's how it works.

He and his team raised genetically engineered flies with taste neurons that can be turned

on and off with red and green light.

That kind of process is known as optogenetics.

His team fed the flies bland food, which they understandably disliked.

But then the researchers bade the flies in light to turn on sweetness perceiving neurons.

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