Miners have discovered a substance with the exact chemical composition as Kryptonite as described in Superman Returns.
Unfortunately…

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.

Full article

So disappointing!

Oh, dear…

British Airways has removed a shot of Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson from the in-flight version of the James Bond movie Casino Royale.

Sir Richard was seen briefly in the original film, passing through an airport security scanner, but can only be seen from behind in the new edit.

Full article (via BoingBoing)

I’m sorry but what do BA foresee passengers thinking when they watch a movie with a Branson cameo? Personally, thoughts of “what a tool” spring to mind and surely BA would encourage that. It’s not like that by the time the in-flight movie starts you can suddenly change planes. Anyone who decides which airline to fly on based on a cameo of a jet and the chairman of the airline needs their head read.

In times of depressing world events these are the scientific breakthroughs we need more of.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A fruity cocktail may not only be fun to drink but may count as health food, U.S. and Thai researchers say.

Adding ethanol — the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits — boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries, the researchers found.

Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Full article

Just when you may start thinking that ethanol might be a nice stepping stone between petrol and hydrogen, you see a study like this.

WASHINGTON — Switching from gasoline to ethanol — touted as a green alternative at the pump — may create dirtier air, causing slightly more smog-related deaths, a new study says.

Nearly 200 more people would die yearly from respiratory problems if all vehicles in the United States ran on a mostly ethanol fuel blend by 2020, the research concludes. Of course, the study author acknowledges that such a quick and monumental shift to plant-based fuels is next to impossible.

Full article (via DailyTech)

I think this can probably go down in the ‘whoops’ file.

A Pennsylvania student was held in jail for 12 days after a bomb threat recorded by a school hot line service was wrongly attributed to him, Fox News reports.

Fifteen-year-old Cody Webb, of Greensburg, “called a school district hot line to listen to a recorded message about school delays at 3:12am EDT on 11 March”, his mobile phone records later revealed. The next morning, school officials discovered said bomb threat logged at 3:17am.

…

In fact, because the school had not reset the clock on the hot line, which continued to show Eastern Standard Time, officials and police failed to spot that the bomb threat had actually come in at 4:17am - more than an hour after Webb’s innocent call.

Full article

Watch for the wrongful arrest civil suit for sure - 12 days is a long time to work out such a fundamental error.

Knut the polar bear kicked up a fuss a while ago when it was claimed that animal liberationists were calling for its execution. When I first heard about it I could understand the point of view but I didn’t really think it had any weight because none of the animals in a zoo would have any chance of a normal (ie. able to live in the wild) life.

Except that isn’t really the story.

As Media Watch exposed last night Australian time, both people cited for making the claim were misquoted (or at the very least, quotes were taken out of context). From there, all the media reports quoted those misquotes and the snowball ensued (pun intended).

Compare the often published quote:

“They should have had the courage to kill him much earlier”.

with the full sentence

“They should have had the courage to kill him much earlier…but it’s much too late to put him to sleep and kill him now.”

So basically, nobody is calling for him to be put down. The guy who said that he should be killed was simply referring to an earlier German court decision that he didn’t actually support.

I could go on but you’re better off reading Media Watch’s transcript.

mmmm…..not so smart

BERLIN (Reuters) - A hapless German thief snapped his credit card in two while prying open a lock, inadvertently leaving behind his name and account details for police.
(Full Article)