The humiliation of a wet T-shirt: My sister’s unanswerable question

About 20 years ago, when my sister was around 10 years old, she posed a seemingly simple question: “Why do clothes look darker when wet? Water is colorless, though.”

I’m certain she wasn’t some child genius; she probably asked idly without thinking too much. Yet, the question completely flustered me. Now I know why I felt so disoriented: it was a direct challenge to my arrogance and ignorance of youth (or perhaps just my general mental condition in my younger days). I was arrogantly surprised to find there were still things I didn’t know, even among the tiny, daily events of the world.

(In short, my little sister unintentionally gave me an intellectual beatdown.)

By the way, the answer is that water has low optical reflectance—about half that of glass. Water fills the tiny spaces between the fibers, causing less light to reflect back to your eyes. That may contrast sharply with the impression you get from the sparkling surface of the seas and rivers, but the basic principle is sound.

The great interstellar reveal: Why the universe is beige

Speaking of colors, here is a question you likely never considered: What color do you think the universe is? Black? Colorless and transparent? Since the universe is only reliably visible above the night sky, most of us never spare a thought for its actual average hue. I certainly hadn’t.

However, as some of you may know because the discovery made news about 20 years ago, the average color of the universe is said to be beige. New and hot stars look blue; old and cold stars look red. If the colors of all the light from all the stars in the observable universe are mixed and equalized, the color settles near beige.

This color was later scientifically named “Cosmic Latte.” Think about the poetry of that name—Cosmic Latte!—only to discover that the color looks exactly like the weak coffee you forgot on your desk for two hours.

The greige connection: Matching the cosmos to our furniture

The other day, I was talking with our interior coordinator about the color palette for our shop renovation. I asked if there was any rule dictating the wall and ceiling colors.

She answered: “It’s basically a color between gray and beige. It’s a color called ‘greige,’ which is very popular in interior design. It works because it won’t interfere with the beautiful natural colors of the wood used in our furniture.”

On hearing her practical and sensible explanation, I immediately remembered the trivial stories above and had a grand, slightly ridiculous thought: “Let’s call the interior color of our shop ‘Grayish Cosmic Latte,’ rather than just ‘greige.'”

It’s a completely useless name from a marketing perspective, but it connects my sister’s genius question, the ultimate color of the cosmos, and our humble wooden furniture.

After all, if the universe is beige, then our furniture must be astronomically good.

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