• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Conserving Helium

Conserving Helium

January 28, 2008
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/080128_sciup_cons.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Keeping helium from escaping. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Helium isn’t just for balloons and funny voices: its unique chemical properties make it valuable to industries like fiber optics, rocketry, and nuclear power. But according to physical chemist Lee Sobotka of Washington University in St. Louis, we should keep a more careful eye on Earth’s dwindling helium reserves.

LEE SOBOTKA (Washington University in St. Louis):
It is a non-renewable resource. It is replenished on Earth at a rate that is incredibly slow; that’s the same as oil and gas. But different than oil and gas is that there are no substitutes.

HIRSHON:
With demand rising, the world’s largest helium reserve may be spent within a decade. What’s more, Sobotka says that oil and gas drilling leaks Earth’s stored helium into the air. He says capturing that helium, along with better industrial recycling, could help shore up our supplies. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Chemistry, Engineering & Technology, Environment & Conservation, Geology, Physics
Previous Post:Solar Storm Roundup
Next Post:Spermbots

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos