SoylentNews

butthurt writes:

CBC News reports that a deposit of helium-rich gases has been discovered beneath Tanzania. Estimated at "about 54 billion cubic feet (1.5 billion cubic metres) of helium," the deposit was found by looking for rocks that might contain helium, along with formations that could retain gases underground, and volcanic activity. It is believed that volcanic heat caused separation of helium from the parent rocks; the helium was then trapped in an underground cavern. Helium has traditionally been produced in conjunction with methane (natural gas). The discoverers are optimistic that similar formations may exist elsewhere in the world.

Gas seeping out of the new Tanzanian reserve contains up to 10.6 per cent helium, and the reserve is estimated to hold about 54 billion cubic feet (1.5 billion cubic metres) of helium gas in total.

"This is enough to fill over 1.2 million medical MRI scanners," said Chris Ballentine, a University of Oxford researcher who co-authored the study, in a news release.

For comparison, entire global reserves are thought to be about 35.2 billion cubic metres, and the world uses about 227 million cubic metres per year.

Additional coverage:

• Gizmodo
• New Scientist (semi-paywalled)

Original Submission

jas writes:

Shortages of liquid helium are beginning to cause anxiety for researchers, as the third major supply constraint since 2006 is affecting everyone from medical laboratories to party supply stores due to higher prices and rationing from vendors. Despite helium being the second most abundant element in the universe, there are only 14 liquid helium production facilities in the world--with around 75% of that consumed worldwide produced in Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, an ExxonMobil facility in Wyoming, and facilities owned by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), according to GasWorld.

With the privatization of the helium market--a process that started in 1996--coming to fruition in 2020, private industry has played a larger role in ensuring helium supply in the US.

With the ExxonMobil facility partially shutting down for maintenance this summer, the helium market is going to be squeezed. Quantum computers use a different isotope of helium (Helium-3), the distribution of which is still controlled by the government, which should head off any issues.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-helium-shortages-will-impact-quantum-computer-research/

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Soon You'll Be Able To Buy Your Own 9 GHz Record Breaking LN2 Pot:

According to a report from hardwareLuxx, Raptor Lake's 9GHz world record was achieved using a brand new LN2 pot named the Volcano, and from January 5 you'll be able to buy your own from EmorLabs for $250.

Volcano was developed by overclocker ShaggySVK and supports a combination of liquid nitrogen (LN2) and liquid helium cooling, not just liquid nitrogen. The pot itself features a matte black finish container measuring 83.1mm paired with a full copper core at the bottom. It supports almost every single CPU socket from Intel and AMD, including AM2 all the way to AM5, and LGA 775 all the way to the LGA 20xx sockets found in Intel's HEDT chips. We don't have all the dimensions of the pot itself, but it stands tall, approximately the height of a 100mm or 120mm tower cooler.

To maximize the effective cooling, the copper core features a plethora of holes and dimples for the cooling liquid to saturate. These holes extend all the way through the
copper core, with the exception of the bottom where the surface is flat to make maximum contact with the CPU. Again, the pot is capable of utilizing both liquid nitrogen and liquid helium cooling at the same time.

Liquid helium is a more aggressive cooling solution compared to liquid nitrogen, with extreme thermal properties producing a lower temperature. When used correctly in an overclocking application, it can drop CPU temperatures even further than what liquid nitrogen alone is capable of.

Are there any overclockers in our community?

Original Submission