by Kathi Leiden | Nov 23, 2015 | Helium, Helium Uses
Ever wonder what it takes to create the massive helium balloons of the Thanksgiving Day Parade? It’s a full-time, year-round job—check it out. All year for one day For over four decades, the helium balloons of the Thanksgiving Day Parade were made in a Tootsie...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 20, 2015 | Helium, Helium Uses
So many giant helium balloons float down the city streets in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade®, you’d think things would go wrong sometimes. They do. A lot. Yesterday, we gave you a quick history of the evolution of the Thanksgiving Day Parade helium balloon...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 19, 2015 | Helium, Helium Uses
We all watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade® to see what big helium balloon character will float down the block next, but how did the tradition even come to be? No plan for a helium balloon character The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade wasn’t always the helium...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 18, 2015 | Helium, Helium Uses
Fully filled with helium, the world’s largest aircraft has lifted off for the first time at its hangar in Cardington, Bedfordshire. Historically, it’s not even close to the massive sizes of older airships like the Hindenburg or the USS Akron and Macon, but...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 13, 2015 | Helium, Helium Uses
From flying Camaros to perfectly choreographed floating orb displays, a company in Germany is doing otherworldly things with helium and propellers. Think you’ve seen it all? Think again. You will never forget the moment you’re standing at an auto show and...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 12, 2015 | Helium, Helium News, Helium Science
You don’t really hear about it in the U.S., but there is a moon race going on right now and it’s all centered around mining helium-3. China is going to the moon. Japan has plans to. Russia claims it does as well. NASA—not so much, but a billionaire has...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 10, 2015 | Helium, Helium Uses
A few weeks ago, China quietly launched a solar-powered, near-space helium airship that can cruise at a height of 12 miles for as long as six months. “Yuanmeng” is the name of the enormous helium airship, whose bright silver skin resembles a giant floating sweet...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 6, 2015 | Helium, Helium Uses
As the wind industry races to build taller turbines to reach stronger winds, a new helium wind turbine could not only win that race, but render it obsolete. Higher wind, higher power Here’s the deal with wind energy: The winds that blow a thousand or more feet...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 5, 2015 | Helium, Helium Science
Helium is a finite resource on Earth, but the sun mass produces the stuff. Through an idea called stellar lifting, we might one day extract helium from the sun. Helium shortages Every 4 or 5 years, the world seems to find itself in another helium shortage. Right now,...
by Kathi Leiden | Nov 3, 2015 | Helium, Helium Science
Could leaking helium be the warning system we’ve been searching for when it comes to predicting volcanic activity? Led by professor Yuji Sano, group of researchers from the University of Tokyo studied the hot springs surrounding Japan’s Mount Ontake prior...
