The mysterious debris, initially thought to be tar balls, began appearing on beaches in Sydney last month The composition of the mysterious balls that washed up on the shores of Australia last month has been revealed — and scientists say the truth is "much more disgusting" than they initially thought.

Oh, crap! Thousands of mysterious black balls that washed ashore and closed a stretch of popular Australian beaches last month were discovered to be mini blobs of poop. Initially believed to be made of tar,

Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images One time when I was at the beach, I accidentally discovered balls of oil near the sand. At the time, I thought it was terrible. But it could have been so much worse.