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Related: About this forumNot just Party City: Why helium shortages worry scientists and researchers
Source: NBC News
Not just Party City: Why helium shortages worry scientists and researchers
Helium is the workhorse of chemistry. Because of a helium shortage, some important experiments are being forced to shut down," one physicist said.
May 18, 2019, 4:31 AM EDT
By Mary Pflum
This months announcement from Party City that its closing more than 40 stores as it grapples with new challenges, including diminishing helium supplies, likely came as unwelcome news to customers who count on the store for their balloon and event planning needs.
But for scientists like Mark Elsesser, the announcement was something of a relief, inflating hopes that the public, and the government, might start paying closer attention.
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Helium is used in MRIs, its used in nuclear magnetic resonance, and the semiconductor industry uses a lot of helium, Elsesser said.
Helium is the workhorse of chemistry. Because of a helium shortage, some important experiments are being forced to shut down. The development of some drugs is being impacted. Were losing time in research efforts.
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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/not-just-party-city-why-helium-shortages-worry-scientists-researchers-n1007151
LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)I remember no balloons for quite awhile back around 2007.
Mersky
(4,969 posts)Hasn't crossed my mind in a while, because distractions.
Thanks for posting about it. Will bring this up in my sphere of peeps.
Silent3
(15,018 posts)...in the entire universe is so hard to find here on Earth?
Of course, it does actually make sense, given how the materials for warm and rocky planets like ours coalesce, that light gases like helium mostly escape into space. Most of the helium we have doesn't even come from space, but has been formed right here as a product of radioactive decay.