Text of artical which appeared inthe Brittish journal "Nature",Vol. 323.25, September 1986.Mystery Object Amid The Chromosomes____________
_______________________  Sir - The very thin object shownbelow like a fragmented crosswordin appearence, was recently foundin one of our rou
tine chromosomepreparations for prenatal diagnosisfollowing aminiocentisis. But whatis it?  Is it a man made device? Packingtext as binary c
oded information onthe miniature scale (the scale baris 10 micro-milimeters) would seemadvantageous. Or is it a naturallyoccuring substance?
 None of thepossibilities we have been able tothink of would seem to be appro-priate to amniotic fluid, so ifanybody is able to suggest anan
swer to this mystery we wouldlike to have it.We are as intrigued as we areignorant.              John Wolstenholme              Ian Harlow  
            George Clarke              Hilary Sheridan              Jon Jonasson              Mark Crocker              Helen MatthewsDepart
ment of Medical GeneticsChurchill Hospital, Headington,Oxford OX3 7LJ, UK