October 13, 2006

A shortage of what?

Apparently, a shortage of helium.

Seriously, it appears that we're in a temporary helium shortage but that - in the long term - we're heading for a eventual drying up of the helium supply. This doesn't appear to be any sort of panic announcement or anything, just a simple fact that we'll run out of helium sometime in this century - some estimates say as quickly as 2015 and others by 2100 at the latest.

What a weird idea - a world without helium. No more casually sucking down balloons just to hear your voice sound all funny. No more grabbing a helium balloon to make your student aide happy. No more frivolously flying 'round the country in a deck chair.

If you want to know a little more about helium itself, check out these couple of articles: from wikipedia and from the University of Denver.

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