The world is experiencing shortages of some of its most plentiful (water and trash) and rarest items (helium and isotopes). Some places are even short on women. Are we condemned to a future of permanent shortages? Or is the glass just half full at the moment?http://www.newser.com/2008 - Newseren-usNewser Feed GeneratorThu, 28 Aug 2008 7:48:17 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/33144/manhole-cover-thieves-hit-streets-of-philadelphia.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThese days you have to watch your step in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is suffering from an epidemic of manhole-cover theft, as rising scrap metal prices have led to a 2,500% increase in stolen covers and grates. Thieves are selling the covers for $5 to $10 at junkyards, reports the New York Times, and some streets now have so many orange cones marking off danger zones that they look like a slalom course.http://www.newser.com/story/33144/manhole-cover-thieves-hit-streets-of-philadelphia.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 23 Jul 2008 6:47:28 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/29216/next-resource-in-crisis-water.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWhile economists and world leaders fret about the global food crisis, there is another emergency that is just as urgent: the shortage of water, writes British scientist Fred Pearce in Yale Environment 360. No longer is water "a cheap and unlimited resource," and with two-thirds of water extracted from nature used to irrigate crops, a scarcity could trigger terrible famines.http://www.newser.com/story/29216/next-resource-in-crisis-water.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 04 Jun 2008 12:44:09 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/28250/us-rations-silver-dollars-as-investors-scoop-them-up.html?refid=rss_all_defaultInvestors and coin collectors are hopping mad at the US Mint for placing quotas on purchasing silver dollars, the Wall Street Journal reports. The price of silver has more than doubled in the last three years, and investors looking to cash in on the boom—and avoid the stock and real estate markets—are snapping up this year's "silver eagles" much faster than the mint can make them.http://www.newser.com/story/28250/us-rations-silver-dollars-as-investors-scoop-them-up.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 22 May 2008 22:50:34 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/27439/emergency-h20-flows-into-parched-barcelona.html?refid=rss_all_defaultBarcelona is having to ship in emergency supplies of drinking water as Spain suffers its worst drought since records began 60 years ago, the Guardian reports. The first shipment of 5 million gallons arrived yesterday and dozens more are scheduled. The city's reservoirs are down to a quarter of capacity with the summer heat weeks away. Water-starved agricultural regions nearby charge that the government denied their request for water for political reasons.http://www.newser.com/story/27439/emergency-h20-flows-into-parched-barcelona.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 14 May 2008 4:57:09 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/26231/sculpture-thieves-seek-scrap-metal.html?refid=rss_all_defaultA wave of sculpture thefts has little to do with the pieces’ artistic merit: Police believe they’ve been stolen for their valuable copper content, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the past 18 months, three public artworks displayed in Brea, Calif., have disappeared—and the trend is appearing across the country, pushing some artists to consider dropping bronze as a medium.http://www.newser.com/story/26231/sculpture-thieves-seek-scrap-metal.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 01 May 2008 12:17:00 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/20404/paulson-wants-to-toss-pennies.html?refid=rss_all_defaultHenry Paulson sees little point in pennies and would stop their production if he could, the AP reports. “The penny is worth less than any other currency,” the Treasury Secretary said today in a radio interview. But a sea change in change isn't imminent: Paulson says he has bigger challenges to tackle in the last year of the administration.http://www.newser.com/story/20404/paulson-wants-to-toss-pennies.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 29 Feb 2008 14:12:31 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/18902/lake-mead-may-vanish-by-2021.html?refid=rss_all_defaultLake Mead, the giant man-made lake behind the Hoover Dam and a major source of water for millions of people, is rapidly drying up, reports Live Science. A new study predicts a  50% chance the lake will be too low to produce hydroelectric power by 2017, and a 50% chance that it will vanish by 2021.http://www.newser.com/story/18902/lake-mead-may-vanish-by-2021.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 13 Feb 2008 2:30:36 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/17936/climate-change-may-trigger-crop-failures.html?refid=rss_all_defaultClimate change could cause severe food shortages in South Asia and southern Africa, two of the poorest regions in the world, by 2030, National Geographic reports. "We were surprised by how much, and how soon, these regions could suffer if we don't adapt," said one of the study's authors. Decreased yields could pump up costs in the global food market as well.http://www.newser.com/story/17936/climate-change-may-trigger-crop-failures.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 01 Feb 2008 16:36:04 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/13616/by-any-means-necessary-buying-a-wii.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThe holiday-season shortage of Nintendo’s Wii console is fostering some creative  shopping strategies, shared on a number of websites devoted to tracking down the device, the Washington Post reports. One advises Wii hopefuls not to ask store employees when the next shipment will arrive—instead, ask when the last one came in: "This is a question they can actually answer and gets the conversation going."http://www.newser.com/story/13616/by-any-means-necessary-buying-a-wii.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSat, 08 Dec 2007 15:04:52 CST