 
Molecules: The Source Of Flavor And Beauty
 Many substances
look different and have different features although they include
the same atoms. What do you think makes objects around you
different? What makes them different in terms of their color,
shape, smell and taste, and what makes them soft or hard?
The reason for all of these distinctive differences is that
their atoms constitute different chemical bonds to form molecules.
Following atoms, which are the first step on the way to substance,
molecules are the second step. Molecules are the smallest
units which determine the chemical features of a substance.
Some of these small structures consist of one or more atoms,
but some of them consist of thousands of atom groups. The
diversity we see around us arises because molecules come together
in different ways. We can see this by giving examples from
our senses of taste and smell.
Indeed, concepts like "taste" and "smell"
are nothing more than perceptions created in our sense organs
by different molecules. The smells of foods, drinks, and various
fruits and flowers all consist of volatile molecules, an example
of which we see in the small picture on the right. Atoms form
living and non-living substances and also give matter its
taste and beauty. How does this ever happen?
Volatile molecules like vanilla and tulip scents penetrate
the receptors of tiny hairs in the region of the nose called
the epithelium and interact with these receptors. This interaction
is perceived as scent in our brain. Similarly, there are four
different types of chemical receptors at the front part of
the human tongue. These correspond to the salty, sweet, sour
and bitter tastes. The molecules that come to the receptors
of all our sense organs are perceived as chemical signals
by our brain.
Today, it is understood how taste and smell are perceived
and how they are made. Yet, scientists cannot reach a consensus
on why some substances smell more while some others smell
less, or why some of them smell bad while some others smell
pleasant.
The existence of taste and smell is not a fundamental need
for human beings. However, hundreds of kinds of delicious
fruits and vegetables, with their enticing scents, and thousands
of kinds of flowers with different colors, shapes and smells,
all come out of the soil. All of them add a distinctive beauty
to our world as products of a magnificent art.
From this point of view, color and smell, like all other blessings,
are two of those beauties that Allah, the Most Gracious and
Glorious, bestows on people without measure. The absence of
these two senses only would be enough to make man's life tasteless.
In return for all these blessings given to him, what befalls
on a man is certainly to try to be a servant of Allah, Who
encompasses him with His knowledge.
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