[HN Gopher] Chemist Identifies Mystery 'Blobs' Washing Up in New...
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       Chemist Identifies Mystery 'Blobs' Washing Up in Newfoundland
        
       Author : mykowebhn
       Score  : 26 points
       Date   : 2024-11-15 18:57 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
        
       | chaghalibaghali wrote:
       | http://archive.today/O92yg
        
       | chaghalibaghali wrote:
       | Interestingly something similar (but chemically different)
       | happened in Australia recently too:
       | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/bondi-beach-tar-balls-...
        
       | tiahura wrote:
       | So, butylene rubber, a petroleum-based industrial adhesive.
       | Meanwhile, Ottawa thinks it's plant based.
        
         | NotSammyHagar wrote:
         | the article doesn't say it, but this all suggests someone
         | probably had a bunch of old crap in a tank and dumped in the
         | ocean. Maybe it was a giant ocean liner amount of it. Right?
         | Why does no one want to just say that outright?
        
           | Scoundreller wrote:
           | Mostly because the article is about a chemist focussed on
           | identifying WTF it is and less so an expert in
           | shipping/unreported damage/clandestine dumping.
        
           | chasil wrote:
           | Alternately, shipping containers are regularly lost from
           | container ships.
           | 
           | The article doesn't say if this was closer to raw material or
           | waste.
        
       | mdek wrote:
       | This reminds me of a very old video game "Science Sleuths"[1] I
       | ran into as a kid, where you had to identify a blob on the beach.
       | 
       | [1] http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/Sleuths.html
        
       | Terr_ wrote:
       | > a spongy interior and range in size from a coin to a dinner
       | plate, have been found for miles along Placentia Bay
       | 
       | For a moment I misread that as washing up on Placenta Bay, which
       | would have added a whole extra level of odd.
       | 
       | Come to think of it, that blend of unsettling reproductive
       | metaphors and coastal desolation would fit in the game Death
       | Stranding.
        
         | ikiris wrote:
         | You don't want to live on the shores of anywhere named placenta
         | bay.
         | 
         | There's guaranteed to be a historical reason for a name that
         | out there, and not in a way that's good for property value or
         | sunset watching.
        
       | divbzero wrote:
       | On the other side of the world, mystery "balls" washing up in
       | Australia appear to have a very different origin:
       | 
       | https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-07/what-were-black-balls...
        
       | gcr wrote:
       | TL;DR: Rubber. Industrial adhesive. Nobody knows why this is
       | there or who is responsible yet.
       | 
       | > I'm quite confident that the sample that I handled was PVA
       | butylene rubber," [Dr. Kozak] said in a phone interview,
       | describing a mix of synthetic rubber and polyvinyl acetate, known
       | as PVA. That polymer, he said, is "the active ingredient in white
       | glue -- the kind of white glue you have at home is a very dilute,
       | kid-friendly version of this stuff."
       | 
       | > Globs of the white sticky substance, which have a spongy
       | interior and range in size from a coin to a dinner plate, have
       | been found for miles along Placentia Bay since at least September
       | 
       | > Dr. Kozak said that one of the first things he noticed was that
       | the blob had "a kind of petrochemical odor to it, kind of like if
       | you walk down the turpentine aisle of your hardware store."
        
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       (page generated 2024-11-15 23:01 UTC)