Smithsonian.com

MEANWHILE, AT GIST HQ…

Memo to all scientists: stop. Stop joking with the world that you’ve discovered kryptonite, the green crystal undoer of Superman’s powers. When Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London’s Natural History Museum, discovered a new mineral–sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide–he googled it only to find that it had already turned up in the film “Superman Returns,” as the museum label for the kryptonite Lex Luthor steals. His response: “We will have to be careful with it–we wouldn’t want to deprive Earth of its most famous superhero!” (exclamation point courtesy of the fine people at Reuters).  (more…)

Scientists have found the first full fossil of the world’s earliest tree, thought to be up to 390 million years old.

The tree is called eospermatopteris–a name I will not touch, especially after seeing a picture. The trunk extends up without branches to a bulbous head of fronds, like a palm.

Previously, the stump was always found separately from the top. The new discovery is celebrated because it connects the palms to the trunk.  (more…)

Not all dinosaurs may have completely gone extinct. Some may have evolved into birds. This is what scientists have hypothesized based on similarities between fossils and bird skeletons.

There is a new piece of evidence released in an upcoming issue of the journal Science suggesting birds did evolve from dinosaurs. Protein fragments taken from a T. rex fossil tested against amino acids in other animals revealed chicken amino acids compared most favorably.  (more…)

Portland, Oregon will be parched. Los Angeles heat waves will quadruple. Texas aquafiers will dry up. These dire predictions were issued this week in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

North America will be particularly vulnerable to climate change, the IPCC reported, and water will play a crucial role in this change. Melting snow in Sierra Nevada will endanger 40 percent of Southern California’s water supply. Rising sea levels (due to melting glaciers) will reclaim land from coastal states like Florida and Louisiana. Storms will batter Boston, and the severe floods that overwhelmed New York City once every 500 years could happen once every 50.  (more…)

Hit home shows like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Flip This House” and “Trading Spaces” have spawned entire home networks like HGTV. But Discovery Channel is reaching for a new, eco-friendly level in design shows: They’re turning Discovery Home into a 24-hour channel dedicated solely to green living.

The yet-to-be-named channel will be broadcast to 50 million homes in 2008, with related content would posted on the network’s Web site. Discovery is earmarking $50 million for programming and other costs associated with the endeavor.  (more…)