How much are you willing to go in the name of science? Are you willing to take a sniff at a 5000-year-old mummy? Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptians mummified（做成木乃伊）their important societal figures（社會重要人物）after they died. In order to know how well-preserved（保存良好）are the mummies, or to put it more bluntly, in order to know whether the bodies underneath layers of wrapping have started to rot, scientists decided to put them to a smelling test（氣味測試）. The researchers used a technique called gas chromatography（氣相層析法）which could separate（分離）the different scents（氣味）inside the sarcophagus（石棺）, a stone coffin. And to their surprises（驚訝）, most of the mummies actually smelled quite pleasant. Sure that some of them may smell stale（腐敗的）and mouldy（發霉的）, but most smelled earthy（泥土味）and a little spicy（辛香的）. This actually makes logical sense（合乎邏輯）since oils, and balm（香膏）were used in the process of embalming（防腐處理）mummies.