There are a few articles out quite recently on the same subject; the coming helium crunch. Helium is a Really, Really Important resource; and we're blowing it up in balloons. Now, it sounds silly to call for government action to preserve kid's party balloons, but if we don't do something now, the era of cryogenic research could end in thirty years, and that puts a lot of research (including medical technology) at risk. The articles go into more detail. At least I don't waste helium so that I can talk like Donald Duck!
Scientist: world's helium being squandered
The world is running out of helium: Nobel prize winner
Is it useful? I figger:
"Liquid helium is vital for its use in cooling the superconducting magnets in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. There is no substitute because no other substance has a lower boiling point. Helium is also vital in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and fiber optics."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment