Kryptonite Real, Nerds Rejoice

/media/news/21097/0.jpg

Maybe this explains why Superman Returns flopped so hard. Scientists in Serbia have discovered a new mineral that has the same chemical make up as fictional alien substance Kryptonite. As lovers of DC comic books and Ned Beatty movies worldwide are aware, Kryptonite is Superman’s only weakness, aside from the sometimes plodding direction of Bryan Singer. Made up of radioactive particles from Superman’s home world Krypton, they were spread throughout the galaxy when the planet exploded shortly after Superman’s birth.

Evidently, Kryptonite has been discovered in the real world, to the delight of comic book-savvy journalists worldwide. Dig this news lede from Scientific American:

The collective laughter of Lex Luthor, Brainiac and a host of other DC Comics villains was heard reverberating throughout Metropolis this morning, according to the Daily Planet.

That's what it looks like when nerdy superhero loving writers own it. The writer is clearly an awesome comic book nerd – he even makes a reference to obscure Marvel Comics metal Adamantium. I’ll bet he was psyched to not have to write carbon footprints and whatnot.

Anyway, back to the science. After a new mineral was found in a Serbia, Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum was charged with analyzing it. In his research into the element, he realized its chemical signature, sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, was the same as the chemical make up of Kryptonite in a scene in Superman Returns.

While the chemical make up of the newly discovered mineral, officially named Jadarite, is pretty much the same as Kryptonite, Brandon Routh has nothing to worry about.

“The new mineral does not contain fluorine and is white rather than green, but in all other respects the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite. We will have to be careful with it – we wouldn’t want to deprive Earth of its most famous superhero!” Dr Stanley added.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/culture/21097/Kryptonite-Real-Nerds-Rejoice/