QUESTION: Why does the universe have so much empty space? Why isn't there more stuff in it?
ANSWER: We could answer that space has to be mostly vacant or else it wouldn't be SPACE. But that would be dumb. There is actually a genuine puzzle here: The universe needn't be such a thin gruel. You could pack loads more moons and planets and stars and galaxies into it without fear of overcrowding.How empty is it? It takes four years for a beam of light to travel, at 186,000 miles per second, between our Sun and the nearest star, a trip even duller than crossing Kansas on I-70. Or consider this: When two galaxies drift together, chances are that none of the stars will collide.
More specifically, for you numbers freaks, the average density of space, including all the stars, is only one-tenth of one-billionth of yet another billionth of a trillionth of a gram of matter per cubic centimeter. That comes out to a few lonely atoms per household.
The answer to our question is also the answer to a seemingly unrelated mystery: Why do we live in a universe filled with matter rather than anti-matter? You see, in your basic atom, electrons have a negative charge, and protons have a positive charge, but there's no reason it couldn't be the other way around.
There could be positive electrons and negative protons. In fact, scientists have created in the laboratory small amounts of this "anti-matter." It quickly disappears in a flash of energy when it touches real, red-blooded matter. It's the most volatile stuff ever invented. If the Earth collided with even a small patch of anti-matter, Texas would go rocketing through Australia.
It won't happen. Anti-matter doesn't seem to occur much in nature - not anymore. Here's why: Most cosmologists believe that the universe began as a dense knot of energy, which suddenly "exploded" and rapidly expanded.
Within that first second of existence, both matter and anti-matter were formed in roughly equal amounts, but there was just a tad more matter. Then, a fraction of a second later, the newly created matter and anti-matter annihilated each other, converting back to energy.
All that was left was a few dribbles of matter, about one-billionth of the original supply.
And thus there was void. So much void, it's almost absoid.
QUESTION: Why don't we like the smell of skunks?
ANSWER: Because skunks stink. But do they stink because they secrete a noxious odor, or because human beings have developed a culture in which the smell of skunk is considered noxious? This is actually a subject of academic debate.
One Yale University psychologist has insisted that with enough effort, you could make a child grow up to savor eau de skunk. This is in keeping with the broader theory that "hedonic reactions" to odors - whether you like 'em or not - are learned, not genetically predetermined.
There is evidence: Babies don't show signs of liking "nice" smells and disliking "bad" smells. Babies put nasty things in their mouths. Let's be honest: They play with poop.
Nonetheless, a new study by psychologist Hilary J. Schmidt of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia shows that as early as 9 months of age, babies prefer to play with rattles with a scent deemed pleasant to adults. She used three rattles. One rattle had no smell, one smelled of wintergreen, and one smelled of nasty cheese. Wintergreen won.
Schmidt adds a cautionary note. Wintergreen is common in toothpaste, and maybe the babies were reacting to something that smelled like their mother's breath. As for the bad odor, it was caused by butyric acid, also found in vomit. Babies spit up a lot and they probably don't like it, particularly when the parents start shrieking.
"The reactions we have may possibly be genetic," Schmidt says. "If learning is what determines our preferences, it's going on very early in life."
We must hastily add that it is quite reasonable to think that natural selection would favor humans who disliked the smell of skunk and any other odor that's remotely similar to rancid food. Spoiled food can kill you. Butyric acid is the common link between foot odor, bad milk, Parmesan cheese and those really gross European cheeses that intellectuals eat.
Besides, skunks wouldn't have survived as a species if their scent was based solely on the cultural prissiness of other species. They really do stink.
QUESTION: Why is perfume so expensive?
ANSWER: Calculators came down in price. So did digital watches. So why not Chanel No. 5? Is perfume really that hard to make? Don't they just boil up a bunch of flowers or something?
We asked. Chanel scoffed.
"Do you have 200 acres of roses? Then you couldn't make an ounce of perfume. You're talking about tons of flowers that would go into making pounds of essence from which you could extract the oils," said Jack Mausner, a senior executive at Chanel Inc.
The flowers have to be picked by hand, he said, to make sure that there's no mold or disease that might spread into the entire batch and ruin it. And they're grown in France! These are sophisticated flowers. "Only very good flowers can go into the mix," he said.
Makes you almost want to mail them a check, just to help out.
Speaking of the mix, two natural ingredients that Chanel and some other companies don't use anymore are musk and civet. They stopped because of the animal rights movement and subsequent legislation. Musk comes from a gland inside a deer. That requires the deer be placed in a deceased condition.
This is nothing compared to the fate of the civet cat. These cats, like skunks, spray their adversaries with a horrible excretion. "The odor is disgustingly obnoxious, but like many odors of animal origin it becomes very pleasant and attractive on extreme dilution," says a reference book called "Perfumes, Cosmetics and Soaps."
The fox-sized civets have been the target of industrial exploitation for years and no doubt still are, despite the new laws. Because they produce their scent when traumatized, civet traders obligingly torment them. Our book says calmly, "Since heat increases the yield, several cages are kept in specially heated huts . . . Teasing increases the yield."
C'mon, kitty, don't be mad. We're just teasing!
Send questions to Joel Achenbach, Tropic Magazine, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132.