The race to find ‘green’ helium

PLUS: More of WIRED's best longreads from this week.

View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions  12.19.21 Many of the world's critical technologies—semiconductor chips, fiber-optic cables, MRI scanners, rocket engines, even Netflix—depend on a lighter-than-air element: helium. Helium is a rare resource on Earth, and one that's extremely difficult to capture. In the coming decades, experts expect a global shortage, in part because the way helium is currently mined—alongside natural gas—is environmentally fraught. But a handful of companies specializing in helium exploration and drilling are attempting to redefine how and where the world looks for helium. In a feature on Backchannel, William Ralston follows one of these companies, Helium One, on a recent mission in Tanzania's Rukwa Basin. Helium One's miners seek to tap the first major discovery of helium that is "green," or drilled independently of hydrocarbons. The financial risk is prohibitive, and success is almost unprecedented. But the future of a stable helium supply depends on it. Camille Bromley | Features Editor, WIRED   SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE    The Race to Find 'Green' Helium BY WILLIAM RALSTON | 16-MINUTE READ Helium is a critical—and finite—resource. The future of our most indispensable technologies depends on a new supply.     Who Killed the Robot Dog? BY BRITT H. YOUNG | 7-MINUTE READ The robotic companion was once a dream of techno-utopianism, but has instead become a terrifying weapon. What happened?     Supply Chain Container Ships Have a Size Problem BY MICHAEL WATERS | 6-MINUTE READ All eyes were on the Ever Given when it got stuck in the Suez Canal, but it's not the only too-big boat for too-small ports—a problem for holiday deliveries.     For Queer Communities, Being Counted Has Downsides BY KEVIN GUYAN | 5-MINUTE READ It can feel good that national censuses are collecting more data about gender and sexuality. But increased attention can come at the price of real action.     Why Computers Don't Need to Match Human Intelligence BY KAI-FU LEE | 4-MINUTE READ With continuing advances in machine learning, it makes less and less sense to compare AI to the human mind.     The Watch That Made Everything Now BY CHARLOTTE KENT | 7-MINUTE READ When the Pulsar debuted in 1972, the first digital watch offered a new concept of time—and foreshadowed our fraught relationship with instantaneity. GET WIRED HOLIDAY SALE! Get WIRED for just $10 $5. Get the print edition and exclusive subscriber-only stories. Give yourself the gift of information. Subscribe now.         Have questions or comments? Reply to this email.   This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions