Category: Helium

Over the past few years, I’ve written several blog posts about a looming worldwide shortage of helium.  It started with a series of three posts explaining the physics, history, and legislation giving rise to the “peak helium” problem (here, here, and here).  Since then I’ve followed the story and posted sporadic updates (here, here, here, and here). 

Then of course I fell off the face of the earth and haven’t posted anything in quite a while.  But the helium situation continues to evolve…

Nearly a couple of years ago now, I wrote several blog posts about the current state of the world’s helium supply and the relatively recent but dangerous instability in the global helium market.  Ever since then, I’ve been interested to see if coverage of the issue would become more widespread as the problem worsens.  It is, though slowly.

Sigh.  Obviously, I’ve fallen off the keeping-the-website-updated wagon.  But is anybody surpised?  Of course not.  It’s not like there isn’t precedent. 

Lots of crazy things going on in my life right now, including some incredibly exciting stuff.  But I can’t talk about most of it yet.  So I won’t.  Yet.  Suffice it to say that I’m going to be VERY BUSY for the medium-term future.  Mostly in a very good way—I’m deliriously happy.

In the meantime, though, helium is back in the news this week.

In the past, I’ve posted (here, here, here, and here) about the problem of dwindling helium supplies. 

This article in yesterday’s New York Times provides a brief update on the He-3 situation from a legislative point of view, although there aren’t any surprises here.

A few months ago, I wrote three posts about the diminishment of Earth’s helium reserves.  This month’s issue of Physics Today has an update on the situation for He-3.

There’s some moderately good news, although I think the long-term forecast is still pretty iffy.