This just in from the <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/15May2006_news00.php" target="new" >Bangkok Post</a> (there are more pics here too)

Experts probe mystery jelly blobs

After being soaked in water for three hours at the Post, this 50mm x 110mm sheet of cooling gel has swollen into a fat stick similar to the `mystery objects'. — BOONNARONG BHUDHIPANYA
POST REPORTERS

Some believe they are living organisms from outer space, others say they are a new marine species brought inland by rainstorms _ and for some children these unidentified objects are "alien droppings".

After four days of speculation, the Public Health and Science and Technology ministries have decided to dispatch a group of disease control experts, veterinarians, entomologists and scientists to inspect the worm-like objects which have been found in at least five provinces so far.

However, some people are too curious to wait for the result.

They have conducted their own experiments and say the mysterious objects are simply cooling gel sheets used to relieve fever.

The objects are about 12.7cm long and weigh about 370 grammes. They are transparent and shrink to only about five centimetres long if put in a dry place.
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A mysterious `gel stick' found yesterday at the house of Worawut Wiphusana in Phrae's Den Chai district. —TAWEESAK SUKKASEM

The first one was found on Thursday in the northern province of Uthai Thani. A day later, a similar object was found in a water basin at a house on Ramkhamhaeng road, Bangkok. Yesterday five gel sticks were found _ two in Khon Kaen and one each in Phrae, Samut Prakan and Bangkok's Sam Sen area.

Deputy director of the Medical Sciences Department Pongpan Wongmanee yesterday urged people who have found the objects to hand them over to state officials so they can be examined in a laboratory. "They should give the specimens to us so we can find out what exactly they are," said Dr Pongpan. Most villagers have refused to hand over the objects as they want to keep them for good luck. Many people have also flocked to the places where they were found to search for lucky numbers.

Prat Boonyawongvirot, acting public health permanent secretary, inspected one of the objects in Sam Sen and sent it for biochemical tests at Kasetsart University's veterinary faculty. The result will be known in a few days.

Veterinarian Kaset Sutecha, of Kasetsart University, said the item appeared to be a non-living object made from gel and a small piece of polyester.

A test by a vendor in Phrae's Den Chai district, where one of the objects was found yesterday, turned up a similar result.

Chaiya Temkaew, 37, suspected the object was a cooling gel sheet used to relieve fever in children.

He bought a piece of the gel sheet and put it in water. About 21/2 hours later, he found the sheet had transformed into a worm-like gel stick, similar to the "mystery object".

The Bangkok Post conducted a similar test on a fever relief gel sheet, with the same result.