Did Voice of Russia become the new Pravda? Cause this is laughable.
Lighting the fire during a cold winter evening a resident of Vladivostok found a rail-shaped metal detail which was pressed in one of the pieces of coal that the man used to heat his home. Mesmerized by his discovery, the responsible citizen decided to seek help from the scientists of Primorye region. After the metal object was studied by the leading experts the man was shocked to learn about the assumed age of his discovery. The metal detail was supposedly 300 million years old and yet the scientists suggest that it was not created by nature but was rather manufactured by someone.
When geologists broke the piece of coal in which the metal object was pressed into and spot-treated in with special chemical agents, it turned out that the metal detail was unusually light and soft. No more than seven centimeters long, the object was found to be composed of 98 percent aluminum and 2 percent magnesium. On the one hand, such an alloy stalled the scientists because nearly pure aluminum is very rarely found in nature. Thus, the detail was most definitely created artificially. On the other hand, however, when it became clear that the object was made from aluminum-magnesium alloy the experts quickly found an answer to the question of how a metal detail could withstand the ravages of time so well. The scientists explained that pure aluminum is increasingly prone to oxidization which contributes to the creation of a special layer protecting it from further corrosion. As a result, the metal detail made 98 percent from aluminum can endure not only high pressure but also heat and other severe natural conditions.
Another question that interests Russian scientists is whether the aluminum alloy is of Earthly origin. It is known from the study of meteorites that there exists extra-terrestrial aluminum-26 which subsequently breaks down to magnesium-26. The presence of 2 percent of magnesium in the alloy might well point to the alien origin of the aluminum detail.
The last property of the object that puzzled the scientists was its distinctive shape which was reminiscent of a modern tooth-wheel. It is hard to imagine that an object could take regular shape of a tooth-wheel with six identical ‘teeth’ naturally.
I’m putting this story up because it’s started to go around the unconventional newssites sparking some fascination. There so many red flags, you should discard it entirely. For example, that’s not the picture of the thing shown, as far as I can tell since it says wikipedia. Where is the picture? Why is it not published in a journal? We have to accept the man’s word for it, where he found it and how he discovered it? Why speculate on the alien origin of aluminum? Many minerals have edging as described. Or, it’s man made. Aluminum is easy to cut and form, that’s why we use it for lots of things, like fancy car wheels.
THIS IS NOT NEWS. It is trumped up piece.
This story is reminiscent of this piece (also on “wheels”) from a year ago.
Check out this lab grown piece of bismuth and tell me if you wouldn’t find this “alien” if you saw it.
UPDATE: I finally found a picture of the object.
But it’s NOT part of a gear. It’s a natural crystal formation I’d say (not having examined it IRL). But as following the typical template for these stories, the extreme speculative and dramatic interpretation is hyped over any consideration of an actual explanation. That’s sad because it could be cool.
Addition (24-Jan-2013): After thinking about this a bit there are a few more things I have questions about. It looks like pyrite which is EXTREMELY common in coal deposits (is iron sulfide) I also have no indication of how pure the coal is. Coal can also have a lot of impurities (other mineral in it). What scientist would “suggest” it was manmade? What suggests that it is and not a normal but odd crystal structure. And the big question – if this was “manmade”, where’s the rest of it? Why such a tiny piece of a “wheel”? How did this one piece break off. The idea that it is man made does NOT hold together in any coherent way.
(Added 14:33) A final option which I am currently favoring after discussion with knowledgeable folks is that this is a piece of metal from the mining or processing equipment that broke off in the coal. Note that the discoverer spotted it in his coal bin so it was processed. He did NOT find it in situ in the coal formation. Apparently this is not uncommon to have pieces of the excavation or crushing equipment break off periodically. I think with all the various TERRESTRIAL and quite unspectacular options, we can safely say this is not a Fortean or alien mystery.