"Bizarre and mysterious phenomena are fostered by the press (the Loch Ness monster being the prime example). In The Times for 18th September 2009, Melanie Reid discussed star-slime, writing 'there is now international interest in solving one of the most enduring of natural mysteries'. A number of experts had been asked to investigate samples and confessed to being baffled. They were clearly the wrong kind of expert: a bibliographer would have been of more use."