Why does the universe smell so bad?

[Judi Lynn]

30 MARCH 2017
The sight of the universe inspires wonder. The smell of it, though, might prompt other reactions. Joel F. Hooper explains.





Smell is perhaps our most mysterious sense.

It can trigger memories and link us to specific times and places. It’s not surprising that we often wonder what distant and exotic places would smell like, from the frequent mention of odour in Gulliver’s Travels to Professor Farnsworth’s Smell-O-Scope in Futurama.

So, setting aside the practical problems of trying to take a lungful of vacuum, what would it be like to get a whiff of the sparse gases and particles that occupy deep space?

If we turn our nose to Sagittarius B2, a cloud of gas about 390 light years from the centre of the Milky Way, we would encounter a host of olfactory delights. Almost every chemical that has been detected in space can be found there.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/why-does-the-universe-smell-so-bad

[Warpy]

1. If you've ever been near a fumarole

you know Mother Earth has halitosis, too. Apparently, we have no appreciation for the smells of creation.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Because of the Fermi-Avogadro Relational Topographic Solution

Or FARTS for short.

[Callmecrazy]

3. You made that up...

[Warren DeMontague]

4. I did.

I probably spent way too much time trying to come up with it, too.