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points by knappe 3 days ago | 0 comments

We've been having helium shortages for years:

> The current helium shortage is the fourth to occur since 2006 and is being caused by shutdowns at several major helium producers. The shortage has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, as Russia is one of the world’s top suppliers of helium.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/6/24/helium-shortage...

I have a friend who teaches chemistry at a well known university that can no long run some labs because the equipment to run them needs, you guessed it, helium. This has been a long running problem that the Iran war has exacerbated, but is by no means the cause.

[–] fmajid 3 days ago

Sufficiently long that in the TV Series “The Big Bang Theory”, one subplot involves the characters buying helium from a black market dealer to perform their experiments

[–] throw0101c 3 days ago

> We've been having helium shortages for years:

If it was worth (i.e., profitable) the effort to create to new supply wouldn't someone have done it by now? If no one is willing to pay for the effort, why should anyone do it at a loss?

(Isn't this, in theory, what The Market™ is all about? If people really wanted something they'd be willing to pay more for it, and it would be an incentive for more supply.)

[–] FeloniousHam 2 days ago

Do you think The Market™ _won't_ mobilize in response to the price incentive?

[–] throw0101c 2 days ago

Well, if there's a shortage as GP's 2022† article states, and the demand is 'actually' there, wouldn't the proverbial "Econ 101" response be a rise in prices? Has there been such a rise?

† I've seen articles from 2019 discussing the (alleged?) shortage.