How to tell biological from non-biological molecules

WOULD YOU like the vanilla in your custard to come from a field of lovely orchids or a barrel of wood pulp? The second option may not seem as appetising, but synthetic vanillin, as vanilla’s flavour-inducing compound (CHO) is called, has a hundredth of the cost. Which warrants suspicion. When you pay your money, are you getting the real stuff?A way to find out is to take a sharp look at those eight carbon atoms, because carbon itself comes in flavours, too. On Earth, the vast majority is C, with atoms containing six protons and six neutrons. A mere 1.1% is its heavier sibling C, which has a neutron more. It turns out that when producing vanillin, orchids incorporate a little more C into the molecules they are making than synthesis by humans does.