Holy click bait, what a title Batman!
It’s just cold welding, the article even suggests that.
OK, I’ll show my grumpy old guy ass out now.
Nah, I think protoculture is a more likely explanation.
Sounds like self welding? In a vacuum so no change of oxides forming to prevent good contact
From the article:
“A possible explanation involves a process known as cold welding, which occurs under ambient temperatures whenever metal surfaces come close enough together for their respective atoms to tangle together. Typically, thin layers of air or contaminants interfere with the process; in environments like the vacuum of space, pure metals can be forced close enough together to literally stick.”
Yea I read the article, it just seems like the most likely cause