Nobel laureate and Cornell University physics professor Robert Richardson has a warning about helium. The world is running out of it. And that could mean a lot to the tech world.
He says, “It will be impossible to have MRI machines without the liquid helium to cool the magnets.”
Helium is also used in fiberoptic cables – it helps keep the signals strong. All those screens in our lives? The LCD screens – those need helium, too. We need helium for telescopes and NASA uses it to clean out rocket engines.
Richardson co-chaired an inquiry into the world’s dwindling helium supply. He just published a report recommending the price of helium go up 20-50 fold. That would make it worthwhile for people to recover and recycle helium. And it would make balloons very expensive.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
