For hundreds of years, people around the world have been puzzled by a strange thing, and that is star jelly. What exactly is it?
Something strange in the grass?|Flickr
In 1733, a man who discovered star jelly wrote to the Royal Society that he had seen meteors and had found "jellies" in some of the places where meteors fell.
Star jelly has been mentioned in earlier texts, described by an English physician in the 13th century as "some kind of mucus on earth" and said it could treat abscesses. 14th-century texts say that the translucent or off-white mucus evaporates shortly after a fall, and Mexicans call it "moon droppings", while others describe this "jelly" as having a buttery texture and is often found in fields after rain.
From ancient times to the present day, people often find this strange thing in humid environments. ｜Flickr
Reports about star jelly continue to this day. However, there are different theories about how it came to be.
In 1979, in Texas, USA, a resident said that after a meteor shower, purple clumps of slime appeared in her yard. Researchers at the time investigated and found that a local battery recycling plant may produce a purple byproduct. However, the material may not match, the by-product is solid, but the star jelly is gelatinous.
In 1926, a sample collected believed that Star Jelly was the egg of a frog. This was due to the fact that scientists at the time found some fallopian tubes or ovaries-like tissue from the gel, which was believed to have originated from the digestive tract and bladder of frogs.
There is some truth to this conjecture. Because when the amphibian is ready to lay eggs, the eggs in the oviduct are covered with a jelly-like coat, which is called egg jelly in English.
Researchers have found that the egg's jelly protective layer may have a variety of functions, releasing chemicals that lure and direct sperm to move towards the egg. Studies of a species of Albanian water frog have shown that this "jelly" is important for sperm and allows them to be more active.
This is a gelatinous substance that contains the eggs of amphibians. ｜wiki
This jelly-like substance is mainly composed of glycoproteins and peptides, and some studies have pointed out that one of the polysaccharides derived from algae may play an important role in fertilization. And this fucoidan has also been found to have other benefits, such as anti-thrombosis, antioxidant, etc.
If star jelly is some substance spit out by frogs, it seems more reasonable. In 2013, a veterinarian thought the same thing when he discovered Star Jelly. And he said that female frogs, when attacked, do spit out some jelly matter. After absorbing water on the wet ground, it becomes a mysterious star jelly.
However, there are other discoveries and conjectures, and in 2019, a large pile of gelatinous material appeared in the yard of a couple in the United States. "If it's about frogs, it has to be an oversized frog. ”
The couple found too many "star jellies". Reference 5
In this discovery, there is speculation that this kind of thing may be a man-made gelatinous substance that absorbs water and expands, such as water babies, and their raw material is sodium polyacrylate, which is a highly absorbent polymer that can draw large amounts of water into the network structure to form hydrogen bonds.
This superabsorbent polymer is used in a wide range of applications, such as diapers, ice pads, and flame retardants. It can also be used in agriculture to enhance the water retention of the soil, and can even be used as a magic crystal (a colored hydrous resin that contains nutrients needed by flowers and trees).
Other speculations about star jelly come from Candida. Candida vulgaris also looks like a mass of gel when wet, so it is also known as "angel's tears", but they are super survivable, can survive in extremely dry conditions, and also have a nitrogen-fixing effect. And it can be eaten, and fat cabbage is one of them.
Because of its rich protein and vitamin C, as well as its ability to survive extreme conditions, fat cabbage is also believed to be grown and eaten in an alien environment.
This is common Candida. ｜wiki
In addition to cyanobacteria, star jelly can also be slime molds. Many strange slime molds in nature may appear as colored gelatinous substances, and after drying, wind and rain will spread these scattered spores everywhere.
However, these are just speculations on the part of scientists. It has also been reported that he has witnessed a gelatinous transparent substance falling from the sky like raindrops. Some people say it's a pollutant, bird vomit, but in the end there is no answer.
This is a slime mold. ｜wiki
But in any case, when it comes to exploring what star jelly is, this slimy thing is very common both in nature and in our lives. Maybe only the next time I actually see Star Jelly, I will have to do a specific analysis.
Have you ever seen some strange substances in nature?
bibliography
[1]https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2015/05/4_people_fall_ill_after_trusti.html
[2]https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/29/health/mushrooms-poisoning-foraging/index.html
[3]https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/29/health/mushrooms-poisoning-foraging/index.html
[4]https://www.citizen.org/article/mushroom-risk-ai-app-misinformation/?utm_source=VentureBeat&utm_campaign=cef30891a2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_03_19_01_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-dff594d55a-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=cef30891a2&mc_eid=6385387dc8
[5]https://www.404media.co/ai-generated-mushroom-foraging-books-amazon/
[6]https://www.tumblr.com/rebeccathenaturalist/726294696941518848/hey-there-fellow-naturalist-albeit-less?ref=404media.co
[7]https://gizmodo.com/google-search-ai-answers-slavery-benefits-1850758631
[8]https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15563650.2022.2162917
Planning and production
Source丨Bring Science Home (ID: steamforkids), Popular Science China