Articles written by Erik Markusson

What is Helium

About me - Erik Markusson

I'm 41 and live in Evergreen, CO. I've been blogging since 2005. The primary issues I like to write about are global warming, alternative energy, over fishing, and the stem cell ban.

+ more bio information

RSS Feed

Autos > Hybrids Hybrid cars: 1 of 16
The Flex-Fuel Hybrid; The Best of Two Technologies Between increasing worldwide demand for gasoline and the threat posed by global warming it's crucial for the world to develop alternative forms of transportation. Because the automobile is the most common form of powered transportation alternative fuels need to be deve... More..
Politics, News & Issues > US Elections (Other) Should the Electoral College be abolished?: 4 of 32
The Electoral College should be abolished because it doesn't always reflect the popular vote especially in close elections. The 2000 presidential election was one such occasion. In the election Al Gore won the popular vote by a slim margin of 50,996,582 to 50,456,062. However, George W. Bush became president because he receiv... More..
Politics, News & Issues > War in Iraq Are Republican leaders pulling away from their support of the War in Iraq?: 5 of 32
As the 2008 election nears more Republicans are abandoning their support for the Iraq war. Bush isn't up for election, the Republican leaders are. They have to consider their own races and they can't afford to waiting out the present policy because a vast majority of their constituents want the US to get out of Iraq. Bush's a... More..
Politics, News & Issues > War in Iraq The Petraeus Report (09/07): Progress in Iraq: 2 of 6
According to Gen. David Petraeus the security situation in Iraq is slowly improving. Since the height of sectarian violence last December he reported that civilian deaths are down 45% and sectarian killings down 55%. In 8 of the last 12 weeks security incidents have declined. In fact, the last 2 weeks has seen the lowest leve... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Conservation What can be done to help protect the sharks: 1 of 3
Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone. Cartilaginous fish include sharks, skates, and rays. This group of fish also has another feature which makes them unique, an electroreceptive sense. Thus they can sense weak electrical currents through the water coming from living animals. However, this system is only e... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Conservation Curbing shark finning in the fishing industry: 1 of 3
One of the most abhorrent practices in the fishing industry is shark finning. In this practice the fins are cut off the shark while the rest of it is thrown overboard often when the shark is still alive. This is unnecessarily cruel because without its fins a shark is no longer able to swim and thus will slowly suffocate. Not ... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Conservation Addressing depleted fish populations: 3 of 6
Over fishing is becoming a bigger and bigger problem as the worldwide demand for fish goes up. Thus fishing is growing and intensifying to feed the 1 out of 6 people on the planet that consume fish as their primary source of protein. Fish harvests have increased by 500 per cent between 1950 and 1997. In 1950 the Japanese flee... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Government & Policies Use of security firms in Iraq in question: 1 of 2
To help with effort to conduct the Iraq war, the US has hired out security to the private sector. The best known of these private security companies is Blackwater. They're in charge of protecting US diplomatic convoys in Baghdad. The September 16 incident in Baghdad resulted in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. Blackwater gua... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Trash & Recycling Recycling of waste produced by computers and electronics: 1 of 2
In the computer age electronic waste, old computers, televisions, cell phones, and other electronics are becoming a huge problem because they are filling up our landfills. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon estimate that are already 60 million PCs in our landfills. The National Safety Council believes that within the next five ye... More..
Sciences > Cellular Biology The riboswitch explained: 1 of 1
Bacterial cells synthesize proteins in the same manner as mammalian cells do. Both cells start synthesis by DNA polymerase transcribing double-stranded DNA into single-stranded messenger RNA (mRNA). The resulting transcript is then translated by ribosomes, another form of RNA into amino acids, the subunits of protein. The res... More..