• Question: If our brains are just a combination of biochemistry, how come chemicals like gasoline or bug spray can't think?

    Asked by to Daren, Lynne, Phillip, Simon on 20 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Lynne Thomas

      Lynne Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      It is not just a matter of the chemicals on their own. In our bodies we have a whole variety of bigger, more complicated molecules called proteins and proteins are found in a lot of cells. Gasoline molecules or bug spray are made up of much simpler molecules. It is the combinations of molecules together that make us into a thinking species. The protein molecules know how to make the molecules that we need in order to be able to live or how to process the things that we eat to give us energy for example.

    • Photo: Daren Fearon

      Daren Fearon answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      Our brains contain very complex molecules like proteins that are packed into cells and arranged in very specific ways to carry out very specialised roles. All these cells working together as a single organ with small molecules being passed between them is what allows us to think. Chemicals like gasoline and bug spray are very simple in comparison.

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