Melting Ice Shelves, Kryptonite & Green Deserts

So you missed this Wednesday's show? No worries, here's the lowdown!

We featured info on habitat corridors in the ocean,turtle and conservation biologists versus evil beach developers, and a report on a seminar by Canadian marine geologist on melting icebergs, ice shelf of Greenland, and Labrador's natural gas-laden Makkovik Bank. Dr. Chris Woodworth-Lynas gave the seminar, at Memorial University, in Newfoundland.. He's also part of Canada's Northern Light mission to Mars.

Here is some bonus, apres show, news: the melting of the world's second-largest ice sheet has caused part of Greenland to be separated into another island; and an article on how scientists are finding that
Greenland and Antarctic glaciers melting into the ocean".

We also looked at ongoing greening of the desertified Sahel region, in Africa. The United States Geological Survey has some really good pictures illustrating some of the degradation.

We were pleased to report that there's finally some action (sort of) from the Canadian government on the contaminated pet food scandal. Our federal Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Chuck Strahl, has asked the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to look into the matter and see if there is anyway to avoid such a mess in the future. Although the CFIA maintains a food recall list for us humans, they do not have such a list for pet or livestock food. This may change depending on the results of the CFIA's investigation. We'll keep you posted.

And we looked at some truly spacey news: crystallographers at Canada's National Research Council & their role in discovering the atomic structure of 'kryptonite'. The substance has the same chemical formula as Superman's rocky nemesis.

The team that cracked the code on the makeup of the mineral are scientists right here in Ottawa! They used a specialized X-Ray machine, and they are Dr. Pamela Whitfield and Dr. Yvon LaPage.

The new mineral isn't radioactive at all, though. And that's a good thing. Or as Whitfield put it, she's been working with the mineral for weeks but 'hasn't grown a second head'. Also it cannot by international chemical nomenclature rules be called kryptonite as it contains 0% krypton. Which, for the record, is a gas.

Here's the lowdown from the NRC, which I've jazzed up with links.

"Canada's National Research Council and U.K.'s Natural History Museum Have Uncovered Kryptonite

April 25, 2007, Ottawa, Canada — Superman's nemesis, kryptonite, is no longer the stuff of fiction. A new mineral matching its unique chemistry – as described in the film Superman Returns – has been identified by Canadian and British scientists.

Kryptonite's devastating power is the bane of Superman stories, where exposure to its large green crystals causes the superhero to weaken. Unlike its famous fictional counterpart however, the new mineral is white, powdery and not radioactive. And, rather than originating from outer space, the real Kryptonite was found in Serbia by mining firm Rio Tinto. Unable to identify the unusual mineral's composition, Rio Tinto enlisted the help of mineralogist Dr. Chris Stanley of London's Natural History Museum.

Before a mineral can be classifed as new and distinct, it must first go through rigorous analysis so that its chemical and optical properties, including its crystal structure, can be determined. Typically a mineral sample contains crystals large enough so that techniques, such as single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), can be used to determine crystal structure and composition. In the case of this new material, the sample's crystals were too small. Consequently, Dr. Stanley called upon the sophisticated analytical facilities of Canada's National Research Council and on the expertise of NRC researchers Drs. Pamela Whitfield and Yvon Le Page to analyze and validate the mineral's crystal structure.

"Knowing the crystal structure of a material enables scientists to calculate its other physical properties – such as its elasticity or thermochemical properties," explains NRC's Dr. Le Page, an expert in the field of crystallography, adding that "being able to analyze and validate all the properties of a mineral, both chemical and physical, brings us closer to confirming that it is indeed unique." "However, finding out that the chemical composition of a material submitted for review is an exact match to an invented formula for the fictitious kryptonite, this was the coincidence of a lifetime," he adds.

The U.K.'s Dr. Stanley, who has worked to identify many new minerals, was the one to reveal the true identity of the mysterious new material. "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's character from a Metropolis museum in the film Superman Returns. The new mineral does not contain fluorine and is white rather than green, but in all other respects the chemistry matches that of the rock containing kryptonite."

Approximately 30 – 40 new minerals are discovered each year. Each must be registered with the International Mineralogical Association, the Commission on new Minerals and Mineral Names. These agencies compare new submitted material against a vast database of all known minerals, to determine if the newly-discovered rock is genuinely unique.

In addition to the investigative work done by Britain's Natural History Museum and Canada's National Research Council, scientists from Natural Resources Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Nature have collaborated to ensure that the new mineral is recognized by the international scientific community. The mineral will be formally named when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.

Recognized globally for research and innovation, Canada's National Research Council (NRC) is a leader in the development of an innovative, knowledge-based economy for Canada through science and technology.

The Natural History Museum is internationally renowned as a centre of scientific expertise and specialists supplying authoritative identifications and information on a worldwide range of animals, plants, minerals and fossils. The Museum holds extensive reference collections of well-characterized minerals, ores and rocks and has one of the best Earth Science reference libraries in the UK."