[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 96 (Thursday, June 16, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H3957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
     SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND ITS IMPACT ON COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

  (Mr. McNERNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the importance of 
scientific research and its impact on commercial applications.
  Here is a great example. Scientists have been working to understand 
dark matter. Dark matter is heavy enough to hold the galaxies together 
through its gravitational pull, yet it has not been detected by current 
technology, such as by telescopic observation. Research has led to 
experiments that would detect dark matter as it scatters from ordinary 
particles.
  Princeton University physicists and collaborators who are working on 
this problem needed to use a rare isotope of the inert gas argon. A 
National Science Foundation award to Princeton enabled the university 
group to test samples of underground gases to locate the required 
argon. In doing so, they discovered a source from a private company 
where the argon is captured during a CO2 extraction process. 
In addition to the extraction process, we also found that it captures 
helium. This new helium supply is expected to replace more than 15 
percent of the commercial helium that is provided by the Bureau of Land 
Management. We have all used helium in balloons and to make our voices 
high and squeaky, but there are industrial, medical, and scientific 
processes that use helium as well.
  We need to provide funding to the National Science Foundation and to 
other scientific research organizations to continue making such 
discoveries and help keep America strong.

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