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Kryptonite discovered in mine

By Brian | April 29, 2007 | Share on Facebook

Good news: Kryptonite is real.
Bad news: It’s not green.

Yet another in a series of science mirroring science fiction:

Researchers from mining group Rio Tinto discovered the unusual mineral and enlisted the help of [Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum] when they could not match it with anything known previously to science.

Once the London expert had unravelled the mineral’s chemical make-up, he was shocked to discover this formula was already referenced in the literature – albeit literary fiction.

“Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral’s chemical formula – sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide – and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite.”

Now, about that whole “flying man of steel” thing…

Topics: Movie Talk, The World Wide Weird | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Kryptonite discovered in mine”

  1. jason says at April 30th, 2007 at 12:03 pm :
    I’m really bummed that it’s not green… and that be called “kryptonite” because of that pesky periodic table of elements.

    Man, nothing ever works out the way we imagine it… instead of household robots like Robby, we get built-in dishwashers…

  2. Brian says at April 30th, 2007 at 1:31 pm :
    Man, you’re a tough guy to please.

    I’m still wondering how the movie producers found a scientist who could tell them the chemical composition of an as-of-yet discovered compound to put on one of their props. And, of course, why that guy is wasting his scientific mind designing movie sets… ;-)

  3. jason says at April 30th, 2007 at 3:50 pm :
    I just realized that some words went missing… my comment should’ve read and that it couldn’t be called “kryptonite” because of that pesky periodic table of elements. Some proofreader I am, eh? :)

  4. Jeff Porten says at May 1st, 2007 at 9:30 am :
    Damn you, Greenberg, you scooped the post that I’ve had pending for days now. [grumble]

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