“What is this spiral thing in my unopened bottle of sauce?”
Even though this yellow spiral looks sort of scary and unpleasant, there’s nothing to worry about. The riddle was solved easily: it’s just a pepper seed, and you can find plenty of them in your spicy food. Pepper seeds can take on different shapes and some of them even resemble human ears.
“Found this in the Israeli desert, anybody know what kind of rock it is? It glows when charged with any type of light.”
Reddit users suggest that this “magical” rock could be green calcite, and it makes sense. According to geologists, all minerals can reflect light, but some of them, including calcite, have the ability to absorb some light, and then release it. The property of these minerals creates the illusion that they are glowing in the dark.
“No idea what this is. It’s powdery and reappears quickly (within a couple days) after being vacuumed up.”
Comments to this post suggest different answers, from pieces of insulation falling out of the door frame, to ants and termites damaging the house. In fact, the presence of termites may be a plausible answer, since these creatures leave powdery mud formations when they start destroying a house.
“My mother and girlfriend found this on the beach today. Any idea what it is?”
This otherworldly creature turned out to be a sea anemone, and many people happen to have seen them on seashores. Sea anemones are marine predatory animals that come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. They are close relatives of corals and jellyfish, and mainly spend their life attached to rocks.
Where do these veins on the egg come from?
Reddit users suggest that veins on eggs appear because of some sort of a disease a chicken may have, and they seem to be right. Veins on the egg shell may be caused by viral diseases, like bronchitis. You can still eat the wrinkled egg if it doesn’t have any cracks.
“This weird sealed pouch inside a baggie filled with some sort of gel and a metal oval with raised lines on it randomly appeared inside someone’s backpack in New Zealand.”
A pouch with a strange object in it could puzzle anyone, but it seems there’s nothing mysterious about it. One internet user suggested that it may be a reusable hand warmer, and thousands of people support this idea.
“Found on the beach in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, it looks like some kind of seed.”
And it is a seed indeed. These seeds called sea beans, or hamburger beans, are often found on sea shores. They belong to a tropical plant called Mucuna.
“This was found in a storage room at a nearby castle from the 17th century. Any suggestions?”
This strange apparatus from the past is most likely a generator that was used to produce static electricity. One person suggests that this particular invention is a Holtz machine that was popular in the last half of the 18th century.
“I found this kayaking in the Mississippi River yesterday. I think it’s some kind of fungus, but I’ve never seen this in my life.”
Reddit users quickly solved this mystery. This strange thing under the water is a colony of bryozoans, or moss animals. They are microscopic aquatic creatures that live in colonies attached to rocks or branches.
“My dad found this washed up on the shore by our lakeside house. What is it?”
It looks like a large piece of amber, but it’s probably too big and perfect to be one. Some people suggested that it could be a piece of rosin, a substance extracted from pine trees and other trees that are used for producing ink, glue, soap and other things.
“What’s this coded ‘manhole’ disc behind the Netflix headquarters in Los Gatos, CA?”
This plaque is actually a work of art, and it is one of a series of coded discs you can find along Los Gatos Creek Trail in California. These are not real manhole discs, they don’t cover anything and were created for entertainment purposes only. They say you can “decipher” the message right away if you carefully read those discs.
“I found this thing in my food. It was just stuck to a piece of meat, it wasn’t lodged into it or anything. Anyone know what it is?”
It turns out to be a cattle microchip implant used to track cattle, pigs, and sheep. It is actually not supposed to get into your food.
“Took this weird bean home, now it’s opening up and has me more puzzled.”
Here’s yet another riddle successfully solved by a Reddit community. This alien-like object is the head of a magnolia seed pod.
“What’s this beige plastic thing that’s mounted to the side of the door handle?”
This is a door knob protector, or guard, and it puzzles many people. It’s meant to reduce the damage to the door and the wall if someone tries to push through the door using a heavy thing, like a gurney.
This creature was found on the beach. What is it?
The internet helped to solve this mystery too. This is a helmet urchin, or colobocentrotus atratus, a sea animal that can grow to the size of a softball, but is usually smaller.
“Found in a tree North Carolina. It’s about the size of a fist.”
What would you think if you saw something like this hanging down from a tree? It looks creepy, but there’s nothing to worry about. This is cedar-apple rust, a fungus that causes the leaves and the fruit of infected plants look disfigured like this.
“Asking for my Grandma: Here’s a piece of silverware found in her Grandma’s house! Anyone knows what this might have been used for?”
This vintage kitchen utensil is a sardine server. Its tines are closed to serve the sardines without damaging them.
“Found this brassy item at a thrift shop in Victoria, Australia. It sat on top of a steel base frame. What is this thing?”
Reddit users suggest that it may be a vintage pasta maker. Just put some pasta dough inside the device and hold it above boiling water while the dough escapes through the holes.
Someone found this substance growing on top of homemade cider vinegar. What is this?
Some people believe it is the mother of the cider vinegar, but it seems it is Kamh yeast. It is often mistaken for mold, but it is yeast that appears on some types of fermented vegetables and fruits.
“There were thousands of these things along the Hudson River in Peekskill, New York. They had a very hard texture, but felt hollow.”
This is the seed of a water caltrop, or trapa natans. The sharp spines of the plant can cause wounds, and its dense rooted vegetation makes it difficult to swim through it, or cross it by boat.
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