Welcome to A Week in Science. This week, fluoride in water, paleo climate shocks and how to build a planet.
Fluoridation of water has been in the news recently as some towns have ended this effective public health practice.
But a long-term study of Australian teeth released this week reveals a significant reduction in dental problems
in people with a longer history of drinking fluoridated water.
The study found around 10% less decayed, missing and filled teeth in people with a high lifetime fluoride exposure
compared to those with a low exposure.
The study concluded that there was a dose-related effect of fluoridation.
The longer the exposure, the less dental care problems occur.
A study released this week looked at the relationship between carbon dioxide and global warming at the end of the last ice age.
Previous studies of gas trapped in Antarctic ice showed that the climate was warmer during periods of high atmospheric CO2
and colder when CO2 was lower.
This study showed that these changes occurred simultaneously, suggesting that they are related.
Meanwhile, a second study released this week reports that today's global climate is warmer than it has been for most of the last 11,300 years.
A pattern emerged with a rise in temperature as the last ice age ended.
Warming conditions continued until a cooling trend over the 5,000 years that ended around 200 years ago.
Since then, temperatures have risen steadily.
BPA from plastic food containers may increase the risk of childhood asthma.
Phantom pain, the pain experienced from a missing limb, is caused by disruptions to the sensory motor cortex of the brain.
Brainwaves are shaped to allow people to focus on the sound of a speaker competing against background noise.
And the protein which allows the taste buds to tell the brain about different tastes has been identified.
And finally this week, astronomers have observed a previously unseen phenomena, the birth of a planet.
An international team studied a disk of gas and dust that surrounds the young star HD 100546,
located a naively 335 light years from Earth.
The astronomers concluded that this celestial construction job could take tens of thousands of years,
allowing for changes to council planning regulations, an overly incompetent architect and dodgy traders.
It's the last week of fringe, so make sure to check out rock band oligism this weekend.
And on March 16, we welcome back astronomer Fred Watson for a book club event featuring his new book, Star Craving Mad.
Information on our website.
That's been another Big Week in Science.
You can watch this episode and other episodes of A Week in Science,
as well as a host of other great science videos through our website, rios.org.au,
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I'm Paul Willis, and on behalf of the Rios team, I'll see you next week.
