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.

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So disappointing!

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.

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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)

Some of these are amazing.

More at this link

The Blair government in the UK is trying to push school sports. However a recent study shows that it may not actually be worth it. Kids that run around like maniacs at school are just going to veg out when they get home and those that don’t run around outside of school hours.

Professor Terence Wilkin, the programme director, said the amount of exercise children get was genetically set, and had nothing to do with access to sports facilities.

“Those children who had little opportunity at school to undertake activity were bouncing around after school whereas those who’d had a lot of opportunity during the course of the school day settled down, and did relatively little,” he said.

“The most important thing (was) if you added the in-school activity to the out-of-school activity, they were exactly the same.”

That is not the only surprise. Professor Wilkin said children’s activity levels had no bearing on their body mass index - their risk of obesity.

“Even looking over a period of years, because we repeat these measures year by year in these children, we have been unable to show any relationship between the physical activity that a child undertakes and his BMI.”

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This comes on the back of the case of the near-100kg eight year old who authorities threatened to remove from the care of his mother. They didn’t remove him in the end but they are keeping an eye on him.

“Bacon. Mmmm… That’s my favorite. Um … chicken , steak, sausage,” the boy told the camera.

Firstly, there is significant evidence to suggest that obesity is, at least in part, due to genetics. That’s hardly the kid’s fault. However, who is cooking all this food for him? Eight year olds don’t cook food. He’ll eat what’s put in front of him. Sure, he may say he doesn’t like healthy food but when the choice is between starving and eating he’ll cave. That scenario is played out in every western household at some point or another. Some parents have a bit more patience than others.

Finally, it’s one of my pet theories that obesity is also due to economic factors. My extremely unscientific observations support this. Fast food and junk food is far more expensive than the equivalent amount of healthy food. (Compare McDonalds prices to a proper restaurant for example) People that are poorer can eat healthily less often than richer people, therefore they have an elevated risk of obesity. I saw the story of this kid on the news and he was certainly not living in Buckingham Palace - rather it did look like his family were doing it tough. Do we need to see the return of food stamps (ie. you must use this voucher to purchase $20 worth of fruit and vegetables)?

Well here’s one of them:

The risk of elderly people falling may be increased if they are helped to see more clearly.

An Australian study of more than 600 people has found that people aged over 70 who received new glasses or underwent corrective surgery were 57 per cent more likely to fall than those who did not receive treatment to enhance their vision.

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Ok, I’m sure that there would be a certain amount of adjustment (I know that I, for one, almost fall over if I take my contacts out, put my glasses on and then walk around) but surely over time the adjustment would be for the better? Obviously not. Explain that, science!

Short men were irresistible to women until mankind’s ancestors learned how to use tools as weapons, research suggests.Being short made modern man’s predecessors more adept at fighting - with a lower centre of gravity and better balance - and guaranteed them huge sex appeal, according to the study by David Carrier, of the University of Utah.The adaptation was so successful that, for two million years, human ancestors with the shortest legs were the most successful.They would also have been the most aggressive, probably because they were confident of winning fights.

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This still doesn’t explain how Verne Troyer (mini-me) married this chick.