Scientists Discover 'Kryptonite' in Serbian MineScientists have discovered a new mineral that matches the composition of kryptonite, the mythical rock that could sap Superman's strength in comic books.
The rock — named jadarite — was discovered in a mine in Jadar, Serbia, by the Rio Tinto company and identified by London's Natural History Museum.
Though the white rock didn't resemble anything known to real-life man, it did match the one substance known to destroy Superman's power.
"We entered its chemistry into Google to try and see if we had a match ... and the first page that came back from Google was a Wikipedia page on kryptonite," said Mike Rumsey, a mineral curator, on a video about the discovery posted on the museum's Web site.
"We went to check it out and found that in the 'Superman Returns' movie of 2006, Lex Luthor steals a rock fragment from a museum and it zooms in on the fragment and it lists the chemistry of the mineral and that happens to be exactly the same — or almost exactly the same — as what we had found," Rumsey said.
The mineral does not contain fluorine, which it does in the film.
"The mineral itself is a sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide which probably won't do Superman or us any harm whatsoever," Rumsey said.
Around 30 to 40 new mineral species are discovered each year, Rumsey said, but mineralogist Chris Stanley, also of the Natural History Museum, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that this discovery was "a coincidence of a lifetime."
Scientists could not name the new mineral kryptonite, as it doesn't contain the element krypton. It will officially be dubbed jadarite when its discovery is detailed in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.
"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either," Stanley told BBC News. "Although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange."
And Lex Luthor, take note. Stanley said jadarite could have commercial properties. Its structure contains lithium and boron, which can used for batteries, pharmaceuticals and containing radioactive waste.
The mineral will go on display briefly on April 25 and May 13 at the London museum, Sky News reports.
FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel contributed to this report.
