Why Is the Universe Made of Matter Instead of Nothing?

[curious] What if the universe had never existed at all? When we look around at stars, planets, and even ourselves, we see a cosmos filled with stuff. But why should anything exist at all? Why isn't the universe just empty void? Why is our universe made of matter instead of nothing? The answer seems obvious: the Big Bang created matter, and that matter eventually formed stars, planets, and us. Simple enough. But there's a fundamental problem with this explanation that challenges everything we think we understand about physics. According to our best theories, the Big Bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter. You've probably heard of antimatter - it's like matter's evil twin. Same mass, opposite charge. An anti-electron, called a positron, is identical to an electron except it carries a positive charge instead of a negative one. Here's the crucial part: when matter meets its antimatter counterpart, they annihilate each other completely, converting their mass into pure energy - typically gamma rays.