A man in Dorset, England, recently found about two dozen mysterious clear blue gel balls in his back yard, setting off an international mystery. Steve Hornsby claimed that the globules, each about an inch in diameter, fell into his garden during a brief rainshower last week.
Though Hornsby didn't actually see the balls drop during the shower, he believes they were not in his garden before the storm (since his wife didn't mention seeing them). He found the odorless globules to be very slippery and difficult to pick up, requiring a spoon to collect them.
Speculation about the strange substance has run rampant; Hornsby thought they might be created by air pollution that had somehow solidified. Some speculated they were fish eggs that had somehow been picked up and dropped during the storm by a passing flock of birds. Others thought they might be related to UFOs or extraterrestrials; at least one person wondered if angels might poop clear blue gel pellets.
Researchers from nearby Bournemouth University took the balls for study and have been able to rule out some of the more implausible explanations. The Guardian newspaper quoted a research assistant named Josie Pegg as saying that "Now that we have possession of a sample we can rule out some of the early guesses. Having examined the balls under a high-powered microscope, we can discount living material."
So researchers have ruled out a number of things, but they are still as yet unidentified. Hhhmmm. Bet this story quickly vanishes down the memory hole. To read more, click here.