The object is called a Chronofact, part of a project based in the US, and this is the first to come to Britain. Transparent and 25cm across, the Chronofacts (pictured), carry a digital identifying code and contact information which used together, will unlock messages or "voicemails from the future", the first part of a unique story-telling project which warns about the effects of climate change.
The idea is to change people's thinking and habits through a worldwide online community project. Called FutureCoast it has been developed by the US-based game designer Ken Eklund, and funded by a grant from the US National Science Foundation to the Columbia University PoLAR Partnership.
Chronofacts have been hidden around the globe and the 91¶¶Òõ researchers have been chosen to begin the project's presence in the UK.
Dr Doyle (left) and Dr Atkinson with a Chronofact
The media studies researchers are Dr Sarah Atkinson, an expert on digital narratives and storytelling and who has written on Ken Eklund's work, and Dr Julie Doyle, an expert on the portrayal of climate change.
Dr Atkinson said: "The power and impact of Ken's work is that it reaches and enthrals diverse audiences in issues that they wouldn't normally engage with."