"Kryptonite" Found in Serbian Mine

Scientists have recently announced that they have discovered a new mineral that matches the fictional chemistry of Kryptonite, as described in the film Superman Returns. It's kind of odd that the chemical makeup of this new element has already been discribed, in a fictional setting. Scientists say the new element cannot scientifically be called Kryptonite, as it has nothing to do with the real element Krypton. Here's the story from BBC News:

'Kryptonite' discovered in mine

Kryptonite is no longer just the stuff of fiction feared by caped superheroes.
A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia.

According to movie and comic-book storylines, kryptonite is supposed to sap Superman's powers whenever he is exposed to its large green crystals.

The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum.

"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either - although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange," he told BBC News.

Researchers from mining group Rio Tinto discovered the unusual mineral and enlisted the help of Dr Stanley 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 literature - albeit fictional literature.

"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 Luther 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."

The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas.

Instead, it will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.

Link to the full story. (Image copyright DC Comics)

Would You Eat Here?

About two years ago, I blogged about a toilet themed restaurant in Taiwan called Marton, which translates to Toilet Bowl. Well, apparently this isn't the only offbeat restaurant in Taiwan. Yahoo!News recently ran a story on another Taiwan eatery, this time with a hospital theme, where patrons can have drinks dripped down through IV tubes into their glasses, and the tables resemble hospital beds. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Bar lets diners tipple from IV tubes

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taipei restaurant-bar is letting visitors order "medicine" from a menu and dripping it into their glasses from a transparent ceiling-suspended vat, becoming the latest oddball themed restaurant in Taiwan's capital.

As many as 10 visitors can sit around each bed at the D.S. Music Restaurant, a hospital-themed eatery, and watch showgirls dance on weekend nights or chat up "nurses" whose rabbit-ears complement their starched white uniforms.

The 130-seat restaurant, which features crutches hung from the walls and a wheelchair parked in the lobby, is the only one with a hospital theme in Taiwan.

Other touches include a sign marked "emergency room" leading to the toilets.

"Food is hard to compete on with other restaurants, so the part we emphasize is service," says assistant manager Ou Chia-hao, brother of the 29-year-old owner. "In Taipei, pressure on people is high, and they want a place near home where they can feel relaxed."

Ou's brother opened D.S. last year with T$5 million ($150,760) to express his enthusiasm for the care he got at a hospital when he was treated for a liver disorder.

Two more D.S. branches are in the works, with plans to open by the end of next year, Ou said.

Link to the full story. (Photo copyright Richard Chung/Reuters)

A New Way to Wake Up: Caffeinated Soap!

For those of you who need a little extra pick-me-up for their morning routine, here it is; soap infused with caffeine. According to the manufacturers the soap provides the same amount of caffeine as two cups of coffee with each wash. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Bar of soap gives caffeine kick in the shower

LONDON (Reuters) - Inventors have created a soap infused with caffeine which helps users wake up in the morning.

The soap, called Shower Shock, supplies the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee per wash, with the stimulant absorbed naturally through the skin, manufacturers say.

"Tired of waking up and having to wait for your morning (coffee) to brew?" ask the makers, thinkgeek.com.

Scented with peppermint oil, each bar is designed to provide a stimulant boost within five minutes.

New J.R.R. Tolkien Book In Stores Now

Ok, I'm a really big fantasy novel buff, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, so I've been keeping updated on the release of his newest work, The Children of Hurin, completed by his son, Christopher Tolkien. (Previous blogs here and here.) Well, the book officially hit stores yesterday and is now on sale. I'm planning on picking it up as soon as I can find a copy locally. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:


J.R.R. Tolkien tale, completed by son

"The Children of Hurin" (Houghton Mifflin, 313 pages, $26, or $75 for a deluxe slipcased edition) — J.R.R. Tolkien: Six thousand years before the Fellowship of the Ring, long before anyone had even seen a Hobbit, the elves and men of Middle-earth quaked at the power of the dark lord Morgoth.

Hunted by easterlings and orcs, they fled to the fastness of Nargothrond and to the deep forests of Brethil and Doriath. Among them, a hero emerged. Strong and courageous he was, but foolhardy and impetuous. His name was Turin, son of Hurin.

His story, released today by Houghton Mifflin, is a publishing event: It is the first new book by the creator of "The Lord of the Rings" in 30 years. The publisher calls it the culmination of an effort to bring to the public the vast body of work J.R.R. Tolkien had left unpublished, and largely unfinished, when he died in 1973.

Tolkien began writing "The Children of Hurin" 99 years ago, abandoning it and taking it up again repeatedly throughout his life. Versions of the tale already have appeared in "The Silmarillion," "Unfinished Tales" and as narrative poems or prose sections of the "History of Middle-earth" series.

But they were truncated and contradictory. Outside of Tolkien scholars and Middle-earth fanatics, few read them.

These works were, after all, largely unreadable — dense, hard to follow histories and legends of Tolkien's vast, imaginary world, crammed with complicated genealogies, unfamiliar geography and hard-to-pronounce names. Readers who took up such books hoping for another Rings saga or charming yarn such as "The Hobbit" abandoned them after a few pages.

"The Children of Hurin" is the book for which these readers have been longing.

It is the fruit of 30 years labor by Christopher Tolkien, the author's son, who has devoted much of his life to editing and publishing the work his father left behind. By meticulously combining and editing the many published and unpublished versions of the tale, he has produced at last a coherent, vivid and readable narrative.

Link to the full story.

Five Feet High and Risin'*

Well, thanks to the nor'easter blowing it's way through, we've had a little bit of flooding in the area. So, since I'm a member of the local volunteer fire dept, I got to spend most of my day out in the rain (cold rain I might add) playing in almost knee-deep flood waters. It wouldn't be so bad, but when I came home from work at 9 last night, it was about 50 degrees, so I thought it should be a little warmer in the day, so when they called, I ran out without a jacket. Luckily I was able to snag a turn-out coat down at the station. I feel really good about getting out and helping my neighbors and community, but I know I'm bound to have the flu after this one. Ah well, even if I go get the flu, as long as I've helped at least one person it was worth it. Just somebody please promise to remind me of that in two days when I'll probably be home in bed with a fever and feeling like death warmed over.

*Five Feet High and Risin' by Johnny Cash

Scientists One Step Closer to Invisibility Cloak

Scientists have recently announced that they're much closer to designing a working invisibility cloak. Currently the design can only cloak a single wave-length of light, not the entire visible spectrum, but there are still many benefits of this, for example, blocking night-vision technology. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

A real invisibility cloak is in our grasp: scientists

Harry Potter fans take note: scientists have finally come up with a workable design for an invisibility cloak.

Physicists figured out the complex mathematical equations for making objects invisible by bending light around them last year.

A group of engineers at Purdue University in Indiana have now used those calculations to design a relatively simple device that ought to be able to - one day soon - make objects as big as an airplane simply disappear.

The design calls for tiny metal needles to be fitted into a hairbrush-shaped cone at angles and lengths that would force light to pass around the cloak. This would make everything inside the cone appear to vanish because the light would no longer reflect off it.

"It looks pretty much like fiction, I do realize, but it's completely in agreement with the laws of physics," said lead researcher Vladimir Shalaev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue.

"Ideally, if we make it real it would work exactly like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak," he said. "It's not going to be heavy because there's going to be very little metal in it."

The still-theoretical design will be published this month in the journal Nature Photonics.

Shaleav said he needs to secure funding to build the device and expects it would take two to three years to come up with a working prototype.

The major limitation is that the current design can only bend the light of a single wave-length at a time, and does not work with the entire frequency range of the visible spectrum.

"How to create a design that works for all colors of visible light at the same time will be a big technical challenge, but we believe it's possible," Shalaev said. "In principal it's doable."

Even blocking a single frequency can lead to useful applications, Shaleav said.

Link to the full story.

Happy Easter

University of Kentucky Hires New B-Ball Coach

Now I've never been a big sports fan (unless you count professional wrestling as a sport), with ONE exception: UK basketball. Of course, being from Kentucky, that's a given. I think it's something that's hardwired into your brain if you're born in the Bluegrass. Well, our most recent basketball coach, Tubby Smith, has moved on to the University of Minnesota, leaving a coaching void for the Wildcats, a void which has now been filled. Billy Gillispie, formerly of Texas A&M, is coming to Kentucky. Here's a spiel about it from Yahoo!Sports:

Kentucky hires Gillispie as basketball coach

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky's restless fortnight is over. The new leader of Big Blue Nation has a heart as big as Texas, and he'll need it to help restore some of the luster to college basketball's all-time winningest program.

Billy Gillispie was hired as Kentucky's sixth coach in the last 76 years on Friday, a person familiar with the search process told The Associated Press. He'll replace Tubby Smith, who spent a decade under the glare of college basketball's brightest spotlight before bolting to Minnesota two weeks ago.

Gillispie, who led Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament's round of 16 this year for the first time since 1980, will be introduced at a 12:15 p.m. EDT pep rally at Memorial Coliseum followed by a 12:45 news conference, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.

The Wildcats turned to Gillispie after another Billy -- Florida's Billy Donovan -- decided Thursday to stay with the Gators. Texas' Rick Barnes also indicated Thursday he wasn't interested in the job, but it was never formally offered to any candidate other than Gillispie.

Gillispie replaces Smith, who left the Wildcats after 10 seasons to take the head coaching job in Minnesota last month, despite having four years left on his contract.

Gillispie is 100-58 in five seasons as a head coach. He spent the last three years with the Aggies, molding the longtime also-ran into a Big 12 power. Texas A&M went 27-7 this season.

Link to the full story.

Panama Company Claims to Set Record for Worlds Biggest Cup of Joe

All I have to say is, DAMN that's a lot of coffee! I could stay awake for a week straight with that much coffee. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Panama co. says brews world's biggest cup of coffee

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's top coffee producer said it believes it has set a new record for the world's biggest cup of coffee, after brewing 750 gallons (2,840 litres) in a giant mug on Sunday.

Producer Cafe Duran used 300 pounds (136 kgs) of arabica coffee to brew a cup measuring 3 yards by 1.6 yards over four hours.

"We are really thrilled with this, Panama has done it!" Ricardo Duran, director-owner of the company, said to loud applause, fireworks and live tropical music.

The company will submit its record-breaking attempt to officials at Guinness World Records this month. The previous Guinness record was held by the United States for brewing 660 gallons (2,500 liters) in New York in 1994.

Link to the full story. (Photo copyright REUTERS/Alberto Lowe)