By Paul Boutin, 3:00 PM on Mon Jul 7 2008, 4,011 views (Edit, to draft, Top, Slurp)

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It's one thing to use up the world's supply of a complex substance like oil. It's another to extract and deplete Earth's entire stock of a chemical element. We'll be out of gallium in less than a decade, warns science fiction author Robert Silverberg, thanks to its use in flat-panel TV and computer displays. Not far behind is zinc, with an estimated 30 years to depletion. Copper, too. There's only one proper capitalist response to the situation: Clear those three spots on the periodic table, and replace them with ads.