The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here’s why the medical world is worried.

On the plus side, we're going to see a lot more funding for superconductor research

Standing with ya here in Canada, we keep doing the same. Bill Gates get wild profits from Canada National Rails because our brilliant politicians sold it in 95

HIGHEST BIDDER

And all that helium will help them get even higher!

They're not here to teach you, they're here to sell clicks

Well, they're not really wrong, there's are only two elements that make any sense to use here, helium and hydrogen.

The thing is, the job they want these elements for is as a coolant. The best state of matter for a coolant is definitely liquid, a liquid flows much better and makes better contact for thermal transfer than a solid, and it's much more dense than a gas (so it can pull more heat away).

But, at these very low temperatures, the only elements that won't freeze into a solid are helium and hydrogen. That said, hydrogen would make an even more efficient coolant than helium, so they're wrong that helium is the only elements that works. Hydrogen is pretty impractical though, it's hard to contain, it reacts with everything, it's more expensive.