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National security driving a Helium-3 shortage, hurting physics
Helium-3 is a rare isotope of the noble gas with applications in
quantum …  The annual meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science just took place in Washington, DC,
located in a convention center just opposite my favourite bar.
I'm going to start off my coverage with news of a resource
shortage you may not have heard of, but one with some wide-
ranging implications for national security, supercool physics,
and pulmonary research. What do these three quite different
fields have in common? The answer is helium-3, or 3He, and the
problem is there's just not much of it left.  Regular 4He, the
kind that makes your voice sound funny and your kid's balloons
float, is the first of the noble gases. It has two protons, two
neutrons, and two electrons. 3He, however, has two protons but
only one neutron, which gives it several interesting properties.
First, it can be used as a