For even more fun, dig into the sources of any articles with the "Resource X is running out!". E.g, this BBC article about Helium prices from Septh 2019: https:

For even more fun, dig into the sources of any articles with the "Resource X is running out!". E.g, this BBC article about Helium prices from Septh 2019: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49715838 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49715838 Then dig into the numbers behind the articles which tend to be weakly sourced and full of anecdotes rather than data. From that BBC article: > At the auction, the average price for crude helium rose a whopping 135% year-on-year as industrial users acted to boost stocks for future years. > "It wasn't very difficult for major suppliers to pass this increase on to their customers, so it did affect worldwide pricing," says [Phil Kornbluth, the founder of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, which advises clients on commercial aspects of the global helium business, says the "price has gone up an awful lot in a short space of time"]. So there's a single source and it's someone who benefits from the price going up. The Physics Today article has more data, but it still has too many anecdotes and could be mostly replaced by a chart of supply & demand trends over time like the one in the linked report: https://www.edisongroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/HeliumMacroUpdate2019.pdf https://www.edisongroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Heliu... While helium is going to remain a non-renewable resource until we can mine the sun, there is no critical shortage in the immediate future.