Watch out, Superman! Kryptonite found on Earth

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  • sportastephaline
    GETLAZY MEMBER
    Level 10 - LazyTowner
    • Apr 2007
    • 114

    Watch out, Superman! Kryptonite found on Earth

    Canadian scientists have discovered a new mineral here on Earth that matches the chemical description of kryptonite, the substance that robs comic book hero Superman of his powers.

    The mineral, discovered by geologists in a mine in Jadar, Serbia, has the chemical formula sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, the same formula used to describe kryptonite in the 2006 film Superman Returns.

    But the similarities end there, said Pamela Whitfield, a scientist from the National Research Council's Institute for Chemical Process and Environmental Technology in Ottawa.

    While the interstellar rocks from the comic books were typically green glowing crystals, the new mineral is a white, powdery substance with no radioactive qualities.

    "It's definitely not radioactive," Whitfield told CBC News Online. "I was working with it for weeks and I haven't grown a second head or anything."

    Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London enlisted the aid of Whitfield and Yvon Le Page from the NRC to determine if the substance was indeed a new mineral. Whitfield performed a process called powder diffraction to analyze its structure and Le Page was able to confirm the results.

    Whitfield said that outside the coincidence of its chemical name, the substance is relatively unremarkable. Around 30 to 40 new minerals are discovered on Earth each year, she said.

    The mineral will be named jadarite, after the town where it was discovered. It cannot be called kryptonite because it does not contain krypton, an inert gas already found in the periodic table of elements.

    http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2...e.html?ref=rss

    Haha. A friend told me about this and I didn't beleive her. Guess she was right.
    the story (Vancouver edition)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b18j27gql5k
  • moomoo
    Trixie's ToyBoy
    SPECIAL MEMBER
    Level 27 - Little Pink Poster
    • Apr 2007
    • 1319

    #2
    Lol, I hope the scientific method for testisting for radioactivity isn't exposing yourself to something for weeks and seeing if you mutate.
    sigpic

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    • Vespasian
      SPECIAL MEMBER
      Level 27 - Little Pink Poster
      • Apr 2007
      • 1242

      #3
      Now this is the kind of science which isn't important

      Comment

      • Elsiar
        GETLAZY MEMBER
        Level 12 - Lazy Scout
        • Apr 2007
        • 222

        #4
        Unimportant science is the best kind of science XD

        Comment

        • Victoria
          Owner of GetLazy
          SPECIAL MEMBER
          Level 28 - Friend For Life
          • Apr 2007
          • 1922

          #5
          Originally posted by Vespasian
          Now this is the kind of science which isn't important
          Umm, why is this not important? I fail to see how the discovery of a new mineral is unimportant.

          Comment

          • Vespasian
            SPECIAL MEMBER
            Level 27 - Little Pink Poster
            • Apr 2007
            • 1242

            #6
            Originally posted by Xizer
            Originally posted by Vespasian
            Now this is the kind of science which isn't important
            Umm, why is this not important? I fail to see how the discovery of a new mineral is unimportant.
            What I mean is apparently people are more concerned about Superman than Science, I just find it trivial that they would publish that exerpt about kryptonite in the article.

            Comment

            • moomoo
              Trixie's ToyBoy
              SPECIAL MEMBER
              Level 27 - Little Pink Poster
              • Apr 2007
              • 1319

              #7
              Well, it's a funny coincidence that the new mineral they found has the exact same chemical formula as one of the most legendary fictional substances, so I'd say that it's more newsworthy now than if they'd just found a new mineral with nothing special whatsoever about it.
              sigpic

              Comment

              • Fredrick2003
                GETLAZY MEMBER
                Level 8 - Treehouse Builder
                • May 2007
                • 58

                #8
                Its a shame that it didn't contain Krypton :(

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