These data will provide invaluable information about Antarctic atmospheric dynamics, of the origin of water vapour over the oceans and how it is ultimately deposited as snow on the surface of the ice sheet.

BBC: Viewpoint: The last great polar challenge

The second theory considers the origin to be in water, from marine reptiles.

BBC: Studying how snakes got legless

Such spherules can form through the action of water, but a volcanic or impact origin is also possible.

BBC: Opportunity and Curiosity find similar rocks on Mars

Experts are divided over the origin of the jelly which has been found on grass banks away from the water's edge at the RSPB's Ham Wall base.

BBC: RSPB Ham Wall 'slime' baffles experts

The typical Viennese coffee house -- an elegant institution with high ceilings, marble-top tables and a stack of newspapers to make one linger over an impeccable black brew with a customary glass of water -- may be more famously known than its Ukrainian cousin, but to trace back the origin of the communal coffee space, you have to go to Lviv, a Medieval city in western Ukraine.

BBC: Tracing the coffee house revolution to its Ukrainian roots