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:
The white and powdery mineral at London's Natural History Museum has been named instead jadarite after the Serb region where it was found, museum mineralogist Chris Stanley said. In the 2006 movie "Superman Returns", the superhero's arch enemy Lex Luthor steals a kryptonite rock fragment from the Metropolis Museum. On the case are written the words "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with fluorine." Stanley said he searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula -- sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide -- and was "amazed" to discover the same scientific name used in the film. "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," Stanley said.
