Nolondil Wrote:
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> Appeal to ignorance, in this case for the sake of
> melodrama. That's one of the favorite tactics of
> 'woo'. Chemistry is now based on direct
> understanding of the structure of atoms. There are
> no gaps in the element table, and probably not
> many remaining undiscovered elements even at the
> far end. Very heavy elements are very unstable and
> short-lived. I agree with Aine that the statement
> needs to be clarified, but if they mean that they
> really have no idea what it is, they wouldn't even
> know to call it an 'alloy' (a combination of one
> or more metals with possibly other
> non-metallic elements). And if it really was
> something unlike any other known matter, why would
> it even interact with normal matter? If they
> simply mean that they don't know where it came
> from (who manufactured it) then the person or
> persons reporting the story are using deliberate
> ambiguity, again, for the purpose of melodrama. An
> unidentifiable piece of wreckage is not evidence
> of aliens or super-human technology.

Completely agree with this. However, if we can rule out secret or experimental technology, then we're not left with a lot of other possibilities.