THANKFULLY, though, none of the scientists is named Lex Luthor 
Showing that life is indeed sometimes stranger than (comic book) fiction, scientists have discovered a new mineral that contains elements similar to the fictional kryptonite, which is Superman’s Achilles heel, so to speak. At least, these are the elements identified in the 2006 movie “Superman Returns.”
Here’s an excerpt from the Agence France-Story:
NOPE, we’re not talking about Spider- Man foe The Rhino, who has yet to make it to the big screen, but about the rare Sumatran rhino.
Here’s an excerpt from the Agence France-Presse story:
KUALA LUMPUR–One of the world’s most endangered animals, the Sumatran rhinoceros, has been filmed in the wild for the first time in a coup that could help save it from extinction, wildlife campaigners said Tuesday.
BOY, when black holes exhale, they sure don’t kid around.
Scientists are studying a gigantic plasma cloud that is six million light years wide (the Space.com article notes that an earlier press release erroneously said the cloud was 600 million light years wide), which could be the product of the “collective sigh of several supermassive black holes.”
Here’s an excerpt from the Space.com article:
NOW this is a truly inspirational story.
Here’s an excerpt from the Philippine Daily Inquirer article on University of the Philippines-Diliman student Mikaela Irene Fudolig:
Mikaela said that at three, she already had a keen interest in science. She recalled enjoying the times her mother would take her to the UP Botanical Garden and point out to her the different plant families.
“We also grew mongo seedlings and conducted small experiments. I was fascinated with how nature and science worked even back then,” she said.
HERE’S an excerpt from Queena Lee-Chua’s latest column piece:
Randles often credits the Greek geometer Pythagoras for insisting on harmony in music. What role does Pythagoras play here? Recall the study of waves in basic physics. Those with the shortest wavelengths are for invisible light (such as X-rays, microwaves and ultraviolet rays), followed by relatively short color waves (such as the rainbow). Longer wavelengths are for sound waves.
According to Randles, the note “do” (from do re mi) has a particular frequency, measured in hertz. To ensure that music sounds good, the notes should follow a certain ratio, discovered by Pythagoras millennia ago. This ratio should be familiar to musicians: 1/1, 2/1, 3/2, 4/3, 5/4, 6/5, and so forth.
