Unidentified yellow waxy substance

[I can't believe it's not better]

BBC news story about unidentified yellow waxy substance.

I found a lump of this stuff a couple of weeks ago, at a cove just around the corner from Cwmtydu. I thought it looked like beeswax, so I took it home with me!

Hopefully it isn't nuclear waste...

[SnowBear]

Sure its not amber? Or beeswax or tallow?

[NL]

I remember reading years back that Nostradamus predicted that a something yellow

would land on western shores..!! Conclude what you wish, i still believe a cargo full of bananas..!

[Roo]

Looks like amber. My mum found a big bit on the Devon coast years ago, and I think it commonly washes up on the western coasts of britain. Your local museum should be able to tell you.

EDIT: Just seen your BBC story link (doh!). Very weird....does it glow??? or tick? or make geigercounters go nuts? Run..............

Edited March 26, 2008 by Roo

[Weather-history]

Ambergris was a possibilty at first but they would have identified it by now.

Hopefully, its not uranium hexafluoride!

Edited March 26, 2008 by Mr_Data

[Hiya]

you're thinking of uranium oxide U₃O₈ which does actually look similar to that

[I can't believe it's not better]

Seems like this stuff was probably vegetable fat (yuk). Foul smelling apparently - though my bit doesn't smell at all.

So, Snowbear closest with tallow perhaps.

Thanks for the reassuring replies from academics... especially as I was carrying it about in my coat pocket for a few days!

Think I'll put some toast on.

[SnowBear]

Sure its not butter??