Science – movingforwardslowly

White flowering plant with exposed roots in an enchanted forest — White blossoms rise from twisted roots in a glowing, mushroom-filled forest.

Batman and Robin driving a Batmobile through a city at night — White blossoms rise from twisted roots in a glowing, mushroom-filled forest.

The word moly does not stand alone as a single word except in myth. There is a magical herb in mythology called moly. In The Odyssey moly is a magical herb given to Odysseus by the god Hermes to protect him from Circe’s magic.

Several years ago I read the book Circe written by Madeline Miller, and moly is a magical plant that is also mentioned in this book. This mention carries forward the mystery of moly. Many botanists have tried to determine if there ever existed such an herb like it is described in these books. Nothing can be established conclusively, and it remains a mystery, though several theories do exist.

I remember watching Batman cartoons when I was a kid, and Robin would frequently use the phrase, “Holy Moly, Batman”, to express his surprise or shock about what was happening around them.

Molybdenum Mo, atomic number 42, electron configuration [Kr] 4d⁵ 5s¹ — A futuristic infographic explores molybdenum’s atomic structure, electron configuration, and metallic crystal form.

No. 74 Moly Alloy Racing prototype car cornering on a racetrack — A futuristic infographic explores molybdenum’s atomic structure, electron configuration, and metallic crystal form.

In real life there is the chemical element Molybdenum. It is a silvery white transition metal. It has many industrial uses. One use is to create an alloy called “moly steel”, and this is a high strength alloy that is often used to build race cars.

All the images and their captions were created by the WordPress image generator. I did provide prompts, though nothing as specific as what it creates. I find this fascinating, and I often want to exclaim, Holy Moly!