A new mineral discovered in Serbia shares the chemical composition of kryptonite, the fictitious green substance that robbed comic book and film hero Superman of his powers.

In Superman Returns, the chemical composition of kryptonite is identified as "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with fluorine."

The new mineral, which will be named Jadarite, has the same formula, except without fluorine.

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine and is white rather than green, but in all other respects the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."

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Astronomers have spotted “the first habitable Earth-like planet” outside the solar system, a find so enticing that Canada’s space telescope is being redirected to take a closer look.

The “super-Earth” appears to be 50 per cent larger than Earth and orbiting around a star in a “habitable zone” where temperatures are so balmy that water — the elixir of life — would be liquid.

“We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid,” says Stephane Udry, of the Geneva Observatory, who leads the European team that reported the discovery Tuesday in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The planet, believed to be either rocky like Earth or covered with oceans, is seen as a promising target in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Astronomers may have found the first Earth 2