To replace the small unreadable graph at reply ...

To replace the small unreadable graph at reply 325, referencing Horton's original image at reply 321, on the top of this page, of sol 111, OM 36, here is a larger, marked, version of the graph.
The 'thread' is highlight peaked along the section marked, and you can see the very consistent tonal range of the highlights in the tiny thread shape.
.

.

The thread is probably too soft for the AFM tips, and I imagine the object is well understood by NASA and related researchers.
We need an imaging device giving displays such as Mann's above, in real time imaging.
Real-time SEM's, by some magical methods.
These items in the soil clumps are obviously not chance assembled, but were developing after the grain assemblies were adhering and consolidating as a new soil surface, rather than a decay of a ground-mass as a solid.