• Question: what sources do we need to live?

    Asked by whstephanie to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 4 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 4 Jul 2012:


      Well we need quite a lot of resources to live.

      We need oxygen.

      We also need to eat proteins, fats, carbohydrates and sugars – this is so we get the right amounts of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in our bodies.

      There are also some other elements that we need like iron (this is important for our blood) and some elements we need in tiny amounts like zinc.

      I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff I’ve not mentioned so maybe Mike and Blanka will know other things.

    • Photo: Michael Cook

      Michael Cook answered on 4 Jul 2012:


      I think Emma’s covered most of the things our bodies need to keep functioning. We also need water as well as food.

      A chap called Abraham Maslow came up with a list of things that people need to live at different levels of happiness, and he arranged them in a pyramid shape, with the most vital ones for survival at the bottom of the pyramid. It’s called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and right at the bottom you can find breathing, food and water (just like Emma said) as well as a few other things that all animals need, not just humans, to survive.

      Everything up from there makes us happier and healthier human beings, right up to the top which includes complicated stuff like feeling like you are making a difference in the world, and solving exciting problems (which I guess is part of science!)

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