Tagged: water

Anti-fluoridation campaigners often use statistical significance to confirm bias - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Dec 06, 2017 •

• bias,
• causation,
• correlation,
• Data,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• statistics,
• water

Frankly, these days I just get turned off by media reports of studies showing statistically significant relationships as evidence for or against the latest health or other fads. I was pleased to read this Nature article – Five ways to fix statistics – recently as it mirrors my concern at the way statistical analysis is sometimes used to justify or confirm a bias and not … Read More

How to solve the ‘monster’ fatberg problem - Guest Work

Guest Author • Nov 09, 2017 •

• fat,
• fatbergs,
• grease,
• infrastructure,
• oil,
• sewerage,
• sewers,
• waste,
• water

By Alison Browne, University of Manchester and Mike Foden, Keele University.  Fatbergs – enormous solid masses of oil, grease, wet wipes and other hygiene products that congeal together to cause major blockages – are wreaking havoc on the sewers of cities around the world. A 130 tonne specimen described as a “monster” recently caused backups … Read More

Restoring the mana of the Rotorua/Te Arawa lakes - Guest Work

Guest Author • Sep 21, 2017 •

• #WaiNZ,
• freshwater,
• lakes,
• Maori,
• mātauranga,
• Rotorua,
• Rotorua/Te Arawa Lakes Program,
• water,
• Water quality

Last week, Centre of Research Excellence Te Pūnaha Matatini hosted #WaiNZ, a national conversation providing New Zealanders with an opportunity to read blog posts and other media from key influencers talking about their relationships with water. With permission, Sciblogs is re-publishing some of the blog posts here, including David Hamilton’s reflection on the successes of the Rotorua/Te Arawa Lakes Program, shared below.  Something … Read More

The animalcules* within - Guest Work

Guest Author • Sep 20, 2017 •

• #WaiNZ,
• campylobacter,
• giardia,
• Health,
• jejuni,
• water,
• Water quality,
• water-borne disease

Last week, Centre of Research Excellence Te Pūnaha Matatini hosted #WaiNZ, a national conversation providing New Zealanders with an opportunity to read blog posts and other media from key influencers talking about their relationships with water. With permission, Sciblogs is re-publishing some of the blog posts here, including Siouxsie Wiles‘ reflections water bacteria and health.  *Animalcules is the name … Read More

Te Awaroa – Voice of the River - Guest Work

Guest Author • Sep 19, 2017 •

• #WaiNZ,
• freshwater,
• Maori,
• mātauranga māori,
• reforms,
• te awaroa,
• Te Awaroa Voice of the River,
• water,
• Water quality

Last week, Centre of Research Excellence Te Pūnaha Matatini hosted #WaiNZ, a national conversation providing New Zealanders with an opportunity to read blog posts and other media from key influencers talking about their relationships with water. With permission, Sciblogs is re-publishing some of the blog posts here, starting with Dan Hikuroa‘s call to listen to the voice of the river.  … Read More

Fluoridation helps protect adult teeth as well as children’s - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • May 16, 2017 •

• Brazil,
• dental health,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• teeth,
• water

Recent research reveals that community water fluoridation benefits adults as well as children. While research into the effects of fluoridation in adults started earlier than for children, early studies suffered from a lack of information on effects of socioeconomic status and other confounding factors.  Recent studies with adults have been more robust but there is still some confusion – especially since … Read More

Health Check: does caffeine cause dehydration? - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 15, 2017 •

• beverages,
• Caffeine,
• Coffee,
• dehydration,
• water

By Ben Desbrow, Griffith University For a long time people have been told that caffeine is a diuretic. For some, this translates into advice to avoid or remove caffeinated beverages from the diet of people at risk of dehydration, or during periods of extreme summer heat. While possibly well meaning, this advice is wrong. By definition, … Read More

Water pricing and bottling plants - The Dismal Science

Eric Crampton • Mar 27, 2017 •

• agriculture,
• Bottled water,
• bottling,
• Irrigation,
• resource allocation,
• water,
• water trading

And here we go for another edition of “Because you’ve misspecified the problem, your proposed solution might make things worse.” The past couple of weeks have had renewed anger about water bottling plants. If you buy land with water drawing rights attached to it, you don’t get charged for drawing that water. The value of the water is baked into … Read More

Bacteria hitch a ride on raindrop spray - News

John Kerr • Mar 09, 2017 •

• aerosol,
• bacteria,
• bioaerosols,
• kiwifruit,
• microbiology,
• PSA,
• rain,
• water

New research reveals how raindrops on soil create bioaerosols – tiny droplets of bacteria-laden water – which can help spread harmful microbes, including kiwifruit pathogen Psa. Although soil bacteria are usually pretty slow at getting around, wet weather has been suggested to give them a hand travelling large distances. But exactly how rain gets bacteria from the soil into the air has been … Read More

Adults benefit from community water fluoridation as well as children – new research - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Jan 24, 2017 •

• adults,
• community water fluoridation,
• dental health,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• teeth,
• water

A new Australian study confirms that lifetime access to community water fluoridation (CWF) is associated with reduced tooth decay for adults – at least in the age groups 15 – 34 years and 35 – 44 years. The study is reported in the paper: Do et al., (2017). Effectiveness of water fluoridation in the prevention of dental caries across … Read More