# Blobs... from space!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 9, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blobs-from-space/303107 "2005-05-09T20:26:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blobs-from-space/303107/1 "2005-05-09T20:26:21Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_285.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_285.html) I found a [website](http://www.atelier2000.com/weird.htm) that lists some explanations for strange phenomena. They say that mysterious “space blobs” can be formed by slime molds, and discovered by stupid people looking for the spot where a meteorite fell to earth. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blobs-from-space/303107/2 "2005-05-09T21:09:48Z")
From the link in the OP: > [@](#): > > Slime moulds are peculiar in that separate cells migrate together to form a plasmodium, this jelly-like mass transforms into a spore bearing body. Perhaps the same “call-of-nature” that brings togather the slime attracts the atrophied neurons of the common idiot as well. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blobs-from-space/303107/3 "2005-05-09T21:54:04Z")
I liked this part: > [@](#): > > (3) the blobs at the battery reprocessing plant were hard, whereas the blobs on the Christians’ lawn were soft; and (4) Mrs. Christian herself does not believe the goo she found was the same as the stuff at the plant. \*\*In rebuttal, the scientists claim that Mrs. Christian’s blobs were soft because they had absorbed water when she squirted them with a hose \*\* \*\*(Mrs. Christian’s notions of an effective planetary defense were a bit quaint). \*\* Ha! Clearly this was before M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs! Or do you suppose old M. Night stole his ideas from Cecil’s column? ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blobs-from-space/303107/4 "2005-05-09T22:56:37Z")
I found some really gross looking [pictures of slime molds](http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm), one of which looks similar to the description given in Cecil’s article. I love this caption: > [@](#): > > To one astute observer, it superficially resembles a cherry cobler; however, it certainly does not taste or smell like a cherry cobler. _Taste?_ Someone _tasted_ it? Ewwwww! ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blobs-from-space/303107/5 "2005-05-10T03:52:42Z")
> [@sturmhauke](#): > > … discovered by stupid people looking for the spot where a meteorite fell to earth. Actually, by even more stupid people looking at a place _from where a meteor was seen_. Up in the sky. Presumably at some considerable distance. Yes, yes, yes … in 1960. For 20 minutes. Happy? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blobs-from-space/303107/6 "2005-05-10T05:20:32Z")
> [@sturmhauke](#): > > I found some really gross looking [pictures of slime molds](http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm), one of which looks similar to the description given in Cecil’s article. I love this caption: > > _Taste?_ Someone _tasted_ it? Ewwwww! I dunno, but I wouldn’t mind that hotty in the bottom picture explaining it to me.