Can helium use the Colbert Bump to survive past 2020?

On last night ’s Colbert Report , Stephen Colbert talked about helium and its surprising disappearance from the Earth . Despite being the 2nd most abundant element in the world , atomic number 2 is quickly being use up on Earth , and will soon be lost forever and a day .

With the Federal Helium Reserve soon exhausting its supply , the world will mislay its source for more than a third of the Earth ’s helium . Besides balloon and Graf Zeppelin , helium in reality has many useful applications for “ NASA and the Defense Department as well as in medical research and computer check production , ” asthis clause take note

For instance , MRI scanners , solar telescope , and rocketsall rely , in part , on helium . With recycling it not economically worthwhile and the monetary value low enough for people to use it rapidly , helium ’s daylight are numbered . And to top off matters , as Rasika Dias of the University of Texas at Arlington said,“Once it ’s used up , it ’s gone … What we have is what we have . ”