"Did you hear about this Batman? Of course you little Dickweed Robin!"

Dickweed: A weed that grows when the wind blows usually in the southern States. It has been known to reproduce well north of New Jersey spreading very easily from area to area reaching huge sizes. Best not to plant close to Pussy Willows, otherwise you my get a crop of cumquats.

Example: Batman said, "Look at all that Dickweed - Robin you idiot you planted it too close to the Pussy Willows!" (www.urbandictionary.com/define)

Mineral Discovery Spells Big Trouble For Superman
Rock In Serbia Has Composition First Described As Kryptonite

By Randy Roswell/ Wednesday April 25, 2007/ The National Post/Page A2

Calling it "the coincidence of a lifetime," a Canadian scientist studying a previously unknown mineral found in Serbia helped discover its chemical composition is a near perfect match for kryptonite - the fictional substance from Superman's home planet that can sap the Man of Steel's awesome powers.

The scientific stunner has heads shaking in laboratories all over the world, none more so than at the National Research Council (NRC), the federal agency in Ottawa where samples of the powdery, whitish rock were analyzed at atomic levels to determine its elemental ingredients and crystal structure.

We are doing things here that are much more important than this," says Yvon Le Page, an NRC minerals expert who works, among other projects, on developing superalloys for stronger aircraft engines. "But when this came up - well, this is why we are making an anouncement.

"Finding out that the chemical composition of a material is an exact match to an invented formula for the fictitious kryptonite was the coincidence of a life-time."

Mr. Le Page and fellow NRC scientist Pamela Whitfield were asked to investigate the material after Chris Stanley, a mineralogist with the National History Museum in London, had been sent several chunks of unfamiliar rocks found in a drill core in the Jadar region of Serbia.

Dr. Stanley's initial analysis seemed to indicate the mineral's colour, hardness and composition were unique. But the crystals that made up the rock were so small he needed help from the Canadian lab, which is equipped with some of the world's most advanced analytical equipment, to conform the Serbian find was one of the 30 or 40 new minerals discovered each year around the world.

"Their findings confirmed Dr. Stanley's view that the mineral - to be sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - was new to science. The team prepared a paper for the European Journal of Minerology to report the discovery.

The researchers conducted standard searches in the scientific literature to make sure nothing had been published about such a mineral composition. Then Dr. Stanley did a final Internet search using Google to make sure nothing had been missed.

"And guess what came out?" Mr. Le page asked.

Dr. Stanley found nothing to suggest other scientists had beaten his team to the punch. But the Web search did produce a match with a Wikipedia site about kryptonite, the pretend stuff Superman's enemies - particularly the diabolitical Lex Luthor - like to use against the caped crusader.

Usually depicted in comics and films as a green glass-like shard of rock, kryptonite can quickly turn Superman into a grimacing helpless weakling.

"Towards the end of my research I searched the Wecb using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover the same scientific name written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum, in the film Superman Returns, Dr Stanley said.

"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 containting kryptonite."

Dr. Stanley is working with the NRC and scientists from National Recources Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Nature to have the proposed name of "jadarite" accepted by the International Mineralogical Association.

It isn't clear yet how much jadarite there is at the potential Serbian mine site. It there's a significant supply, it could be used as a source of lithium batteries or for borate, a substance used in cleaners such as boras.

The museum has scheduled an official public unveiling of the new mineral today.

"We will have to be careful with it," Dr. Stanley said.

"We wouldn't want ot deprive Earth of its most famous superhero."

CanWest News Service