text: If the "strange matter hypothesis" is true, then nuclear matter is metastable against decaying into strange matter. The lifetime for spontaneous decay is very long, so we do not see this decay process happening around us. However, under this hypothesis there should be strange matter in the universe:
  # Quark stars (often called "strange stars") consist of quark matter from their core to their surface. They would be several kilometers across, and may have a very thin crust of nuclear matter.
  # Strangelets are small pieces of strange matter, perhaps as small as nuclei. They would be produced when strange stars are formed or collide, or when a nucleus decays.