Hi, we're here from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes.

I'm Cody Gough. And I'm Ashley Hamer.

Today you learn about the difference between natural and artificial ingredients,

why Africa is physically splitting into two continents,

and why the return trip always feels shorter than the original trip.

Let's satisfy some curiosity.

What's the difference between natural and artificial ingredients?

It turns out that from flavoring to preservatives natural and artificial ingredients.

It turns out that from flavoring to preservatives,

a lot of times there isn't much of a difference at all.

For example, the most popular form of artificial banana flavor

is a molecule called isoamyl acetate.

Natural banana flavor on the other hand is a molecule called, wait for it,

is so amyl acetate.

Chemically, they're the exact same thing. The reason your banana-flavored

laughy-taffy doesn't taste just like a banana is that it's missing the many

other flavor compounds that come with it, so it tastes one-dimensional. When it comes to flavor, the FDA defines natural as anything derived directly from a plant or

animal or from the roasting, heating, or fermentation of that plant or animal.

Artificial flavoring is anything that's, well, not that.

But that's where it ends.

As long as you don't synthesize the molecule,

you can pretty much do whatever you want to natural flavors in order to get the end

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