Slog - Comments on Hey Mr. Fancy Science Guy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy How tha hell'm I s'posed ta watch all muh fave cop shows when all the, uh, ind-yum is gone? Armin Reller, a materials chemist at the University of Augsburg in Germany, estimates that in 10 years the world will run out of indium, used for making liquid-crystal displays for flat-screen televisions and computer monitors. He also predicts that the world will run out of zinc by 2037, and hafnium, an increasingly important part of computer chips, by 2017. Other articles about rapidly consumed rare elements have been gathered in a convenient scare-blog at Slashdot, and the guy doesn't slouch on... Copyright 2008 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:17:15 -0800 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:09:00 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by flamingbanjo I see a huge future industry in mining landfills for these elements.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064388 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064388 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:27:31 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Not to worry Sam, the good people at ADM, Supermarket to the World, are hard at working developing ways to synthesize Indy-yum and other valuable commodities from corn--yummy, renewable corn!

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064395 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064395 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:31:19 -0800 Comment by holz zinc is recyclable and therefore won't "run out" in 2037.

]]> holz http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064396 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064396 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:32:35 -0800 Comment by uhmmm snooze. watch wall*e instead

]]> uhmmm http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064398 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064398 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:33:51 -0800 Comment by bearseatbeats @3

Yah, but no recycling process yields 100% of the original substance. A lot of that (or at least some of that) is lost in energy or other byproducts. We definitely have to work on improving our yields of reclaimed materieal if we want to keep making certain products.

Mining garbage dumps isn't that far off. Mabe we'll have to fight the third-world countries to which we export all of our garbage. Garbage wars!

]]> bearseatbeats http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064426 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064426 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:52:51 -0800 Comment by Andrew This is not a problem. First of all we can recycle our electronics and get most of the metals back. So we aren't going to run out in the near future (less than 50 years).

By then all you need to do is tow a near earth asteroid or two into orbit and problem solved.

]]> Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064450 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064450 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:09:01 -0800 Comment by Just Sayin' I guess this explains why we are currently filling huge barges with "non-recyclable" castoff junk to send to China on a daily basis. They're quietly stealing our halfnium!

]]> Just Sayin' http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064457 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064457 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:11:49 -0800 Comment by ha ha ha @6, oh man, that's awesome. "all we need to do" is to simply tow an asteroid in... that would end well!

good thing that's never going to be within the human race's technological ability

]]> ha ha ha http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064462 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064462 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:14:32 -0800 Comment by Andy Niable Dear GOD! (clutch pearls) we MUST create Sustainable Entertainment Technologies PRONTO!

]]> Andy Niable http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064565 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064565 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:07:00 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Dammit, it looks like I'm going to have to go back to watching television on punch-cards.

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064578 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064578 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:16:39 -0800 Comment by Simac By 2037, it is entirely possible we will be actively mining the Moon and Mars, if not other rocky bodies in this system. Our system is "unusual" in that we have a lot of metal in the rocky bodies here (and the Sun has a lot of metal, too), which is probably because our planetary disc accreted from the supernova of another, previous star. So we can also eventually look to mining Mercury and Venus and the asteroids, if not the moons of Jupiter.

]]> Simac http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064591 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064591 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:23:44 -0800 Comment by elenchos We're going to mine the ocean floor for all this stuff in the next 50 years. Which will be expensive enough that the disposable lifestyle will still have to end.

But do go see Wall-E. It's wonderful.

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064607 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064607 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:33:43 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle You know, if they just recycled the monitors like they supposedly do, and made them for easy recycling, this would NOT be an issue.

Which, given the regs in the EU and Canada and Japan, they're going to have to do anyway ...

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064637 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064637 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:44:20 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle oh, and zinc is a byproduct of the smelter up in Trail BC so we ain't running out of that anytime soon. Nor is the hydro used to run it, scrub the emissions, and clean it.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064647 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064647 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:49:02 -0800 Comment by Vince The moon has all these things in abundance. The procees of getting us there is already started. We will be mining the moon within ten to fifteen years. It also has helium three. Rare on earth but plentiful on the moon, it is an excellent fuel source.

]]> Vince http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064787 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064787 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:58:20 -0800 Comment by Justin Moon colony, baby!

All those pre-pubescent years of reading Heinlein are finally going to pay off....!

]]> Justin http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064860 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064860 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:32:33 -0800 Comment by K Aw come on, by that time we can just use our deuterium-fed replicators to gin up any element we want.

]]> K http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064902 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/hey_mr_fancy_science_guy#c1064902 Science Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:09:00 -0800