Who we are as individuals is defined by our memories and personality. Supernaturalists insist that all of this derives somehow from some sort of supernatural soul or spirit. Science, however, tells us quite clearly that our memories and thoughts derive from the physical structures and chemical activity in our brains.
Recent research has revealed just which chemicals differentiates the human brain from other primate brains -- and thus some of the chemical foundations behind the complexity of human cognition.
[Philipp Khaitovich of the Partner Institute for Computational Biology in Shanghai, China] says the comparison [between human and primate brains] confirms the key role played in human thought by glutamate, a chemical that energizes brain cells and ferries messages between them. It was present at relatively low levels in humans, which he says is because it is used faster in energy-hungry human brains.
"Brain metabolism probably played an important role in evolution of human cognition," Khaitovich says, "and one of the potentially most important changes was in glutamate metabolism."
Glutamate is the "brain's main energy metabolite", he says. "And as the main excitatory neurotransmitter it is responsible for virtually every possible cognitive task, including learning and memory."
Source: New Scientist
The human prefrontal cortex has 24 different chemicals that are at very different levels than the prefrontal cortex of other primates. The cerebellum, however, has fewer differences -- just six chemicals. Glutamate appears to be the most significant chemical, though, so research will have to focus on that one and what it does for brain activity.
Religion can't tell us anything about how the brain works, which means that religion can't tell us anything about thinking and cognition, impaired thinking or cognition, memories, or anything else relevant to the human mind. Science, in contrast, keeps providing more and more information about exactly those subjects.
There's always more to learn and new information usually produces more questions, but the simple fact is that science helps us advance whereas religion just leaves us in ignorance -- then calls that ignorance "wisdom".
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