Word: helium
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Astronomers can determine how long ago a star was created by measuring its metal content because stars that contain more elements beyond hydrogen and helium are newer than “metal-poor” stars like the one found in the Sculptor Galaxy...
While Pforzheimer wooed students with buckets of steaming chili and cowbells, Mather House stole the show by sporting a 25-foot fabric Mather tower look-alike, which was held up by three helium balloons...
...what will surely be one of the strangest stories from the year, 6-year-old Falcon Heene from Fort Collins, Colo., was thought to have taken flight on Oct. 15 in a helium-filled homemade flying saucer that flew as high as 7,000 ft. (2,000 m) before returning to earth some 50 miles (80 km) from his home. Thankfully, Falcon was discovered hours later, reportedly hiding in a box in the family's attic. While his ill-advised adventure never really got off the ground, there is a rich history of do-it-yourself balloon travel - and many...
...didn't deter a fringe element from testing some dubious designs of their own. Perhaps the most famous of these is the strange 1982 voyage of Larry Walters, known in the press as Lawn Chair Larry. On July 2, Walters, a truck driver from Long Beach, Calif., attached 42 helium-filled weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, and with a bottle of soda, a CB radio and a BB gun, lifted off in the makeshift craft, dubbed Inspiration I. Airline pilots were stunned to see Walters float outside their windows, as the chair made it as high...
...attempt by a Brazilian priest did not end as well. Father Adelir de Carli lifted off in a chair attached to 1,000 helium balloons in an attempt to raise funds for a rest stop in the Brazilian port city of Paranaguá, but supporters lost contact with him after he was blown off course. Rescuers searching his probable flight path first found only a bunch of brightly colored balloons, leading to hope Carli had parachuted to safety. However, parts of his body were found nearly two months later and positively identified through DNA testing...