Middleton Beach in Albany, Australia, is littered with tight, fine-grained, brown balls of plant fibre that originate from seagrass. Received wisdom is that the rolling action of waves forms them spontaneously, but can anyone explain how loose, drifting fibre can form such precise objects, so tightly felted and resistant to being torn open? And what is the evidence for a plausible argument either way?
Jon Richfield, Somerset West, South Africa