Gadgets are using up the earth’s elements. Like, the basic elements that make up all chemical matter according Armin Reller, a materials chemist at Germany’s University of Augsburg. Gallium is apparently critical for making LCDs. We’ll be out of it in a few years. Hafnium (part of Intel’s breakthrough with Penryn) will be gone by 2017 says Dr. Reller. We’re also blowing through our supplies of zinc and copper, even though we have a shitload of it. Obviously, it would seriously cramp our gadget style, since copper is in like, everything. Oh yeah, and an element going extinct might not be good for the environment. [Asimovs via Valleywag]