Water Fluoridation Doesn’t Prevent Cavities
June 30th, 2015Via: Newsweek:
The Cochrane Collaboration, a group of doctors and researchers known for their comprehensive reviews—which are widely regarded as the gold standard of scientific rigor in assessing effectiveness of public health policies—recently set out to find out if fluoridation reduces cavities. They reviewed every study done on fluoridation that they could find, and then winnowed down the collection to only the most comprehensive, well-designed and reliable papers. Then they analyzed these studies’ results, and published their conclusion in a review earlier this month.
The review identified only three studies since 1975—of sufficient quality to be included—that addressed the effectiveness of fluoridation on tooth decay in the population at large. These papers determined that fluoridation does not reduce cavities to a statistically significant degree in permanent teeth, says study co-author Anne-Marie Glenny, a health science researcher at Manchester University in the United Kingdom. The authors found only seven other studies worthy of inclusion dating prior to 1975.
The authors also found only two studies since 1975 that looked at the effectiveness of reducing cavities in baby teeth, and found fluoridation to have no statistically significant impact here, either.
The scientists also found “insufficient evidence” that fluoridation reduces tooth decay in adults (children excluded).
“From the review, we’re unable to determine whether water fluoridation has an impact on caries levels in adults,” Glenny says. (“Tooth decay,” “cavities” and “caries” all mean the same thing: breakdown of enamel by mouth-dwelling microbes.)
“Frankly, this is pretty shocking,” says Thomas Zoeller, a scientist at UMass-Amherst uninvolved in the work. “This study does not support the use of fluoride in drinking water.” Trevor Sheldon concurred. Sheldon is the dean of the Hull York Medical School in the United Kingdom who led the advisory board that conducted a systematic review of water fluoridation in 2000, that came to similar conclusions as the Cochrane review. The lack of good evidence of effectiveness has shocked him. “I had assumed because of everything I’d heard that water fluoridation reduces cavities but I was completely amazed by the lack of evidence,” he says. “My prior view was completely reversed.”
“There’s really hardly any evidence” the practice works, Sheldon adds. “And if anything there may be some evidence the other way.” One 2001 study covered in the Cochrane review of two neighboring British Columbia communities found that when fluoridation was stopped in one city, cavity prevalence actually went down slightly amongst schoolchildren, while cavity rates in the fluoridated community remained stable.
F-35 Gets Its Clock Cleaned by 1970s Era Fighter
June 30th, 2015Meanwhile, in Russia: Sukhoi PAK FA.
Via: Medium:
The test pilot’s report is the latest evidence of fundamental problems with the design of the F-35?—?which, at a total program cost of more than a trillion dollars, is history’s most expensive weapon.
…
The F-35 was flying “clean,” with no weapons in its bomb bay or under its wings and fuselage. The F-16, by contrast, was hauling two bulky underwing drop tanks, putting the older jet at an aerodynamic disadvantage.
But the JSF’s advantage didn’t actually help in the end. The stealth fighter proved too sluggish to reliably defeat the F-16, even with the F-16 lugging extra fuel tanks. “Even with the limited F-16 target configuration, the F-35A remained at a distinct energy disadvantage for every engagement,” the pilot reported.
…
And to add insult to injury, the JSF flier discovered he couldn’t even comfortably move his head inside the radar-evading jet’s cramped cockpit. “The helmet was too large for the space inside the canopy to adequately see behind the aircraft.” That allowed the F-16 to sneak up on him.
In the end, the F-35?—?the only new fighter jet that America and most of its allies are developing?—?is demonstrably inferior in a dogfight with the F-16, which the U.S. Air Force first acquired in the late 1970s.
The test pilot explained that he has also flown 1980s-vintage F-15E fighter-bombers and found the F-35 to be “substantially inferior” to the older plane when it comes to managing energy in a close battle.
Puerto Rico Can’t Pay $72 Billion Debt, Governor Warns
June 29th, 2015Via: AP:
The governor is warning that Puerto Rico can’t pay its $72 billion public debt, delivering another jolt to the recession-gripped U.S. island as well as a world financial system already worrying over Greece’s collapsing finances.
Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla is hoping to defer debt payments while negotiating with creditors, spokesman Jesus Manuel Ortiz said Sunday night.
The comments came as legislators debate a $9.8 billion budget that calls for $674 million in cuts and sets aside $1.5 billion to help pay off the debt. The budget has to be approved by Tuesday.
Media Reports Allege Australian Politics Infiltrated by Italian Mafia
June 29th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Two Australian media organisations reported on Monday that Australian politics has been infiltrated at high levels by the Italian mafia, although there was no suggestion of direct links between lawmakers and the criminal syndicate.
A year-long investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Fairfax media found one element of the Calabrian mafia, known as ‘Ndrangheta, had used a number of well-known donors to parties on both sides of the Australian political divide to legitimise its activities.
“Doctor Who Opposed Vaccines Found Dead in Apparent Suicide”
June 28th, 2015Via: AP:
Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, an anti-vaccine physician, has been found dead in what police believe is a suicide.
Bradstreet died of what authorities say appears to be a self-inflicted gun shot to the chest, the Associated Press reports. His body was found by a fisherman on June 19 in Rocky Broad River in Chimney Rock, N.C. Authorities also found a handgun in the water.
Bradstreet, who is from Georgia, published controversial research suggesting a link between vaccines and autism. The claim has been widely disproved in the medical community. His family is raising money to investigate his death.
Officials are still investigating as well.
GREEK BANKS AND STOCK EXCHANGE SHUTDOWN FOR WEEK
June 28th, 2015Via: Sky:
Banks in Greece and the country’s stock exchange will be shut all week in a sign of the deepening financial crisis.
The drastic move comes after people rushed to withdraw their cash amid panic ahead of the referendum on bailout terms.
Under the controls, there will be a daily €60 limit on withdrawals from cash machines, which will reopen on Tuesday.
The euro fell sharply against the dollar amid investor jitters of a Greek debt default and exit from the eurozone.
Speaking in a televised address, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras urged calm and insisted bank deposits were safe.
Greece: Bank Holliday
June 28th, 2015Via: Washington Post:
Greek leaders planned to shutter their banks on Monday amid last-ditch discussions about their nation’s economic future, as panicked citizens tried to pull their money from their accounts while they still were able.
Sunday’s decision to declare a bank holiday was a signal that Greece’s five-year battle to stay in the shared euro currency may swiftly be coming to an end. ATMs in Athens were running out of money, and tensions were running high as Greeks stood in line for hours to scrape together petty cash for basic supplies. Lines mounted at gas stations as worried residents topped off their tanks for what could be a period of time in a cashless nation.
DARPA: Engineering Organisms That Will Terraform Mars [???]
June 28th, 2015Via: Vice:
The goal of terraforming Mars would be to warm up and potentially thicken its atmosphere by growing green, photosynthesizing plants, bacteria, and algae on the barren Martian surface. It’s a goal that even perpetual techno-optimists like Elon Musk think isn’t going to happen anytime soon, but it’s a goal that DARPA apparently already has its eyes on.
“For the first time, we have the technological toolkit to transform not just hostile places here on Earth, but to go into space not just to visit, but to stay,” Alicia Jackson, deputy director of DARPA’s new Biological Technologies Office said Monday at a DARPA-hosted biotech conference. As she said this, Jackson was pointing at an artist’s rendering of a terraformed Mars.
This Robotic Bricklayer Can Build a House in Two Days
June 26th, 2015Via: Engadget:
For all the modern tools and heavy machinery found on construction sites these days, one aspect has remained a decidedly manual labor: bricklaying. Just as they did 6000 years ago when masonry was first developed, today’s bricklayers still perform their backbreaking work almost exclusively by hand. But thanks to Australian engineer, Mark Pivac, that could soon change. Pivac has developed what he claims is the world’s first fully automated bricklaying robot, dubbed Hadrian (yes, like the wall).
“We’re at a technological nexus where a few different technologies have got to the level where it’s now possible to do it,” Pivac told PerthNow. “And that’s what we’ve done.” The system will first determine the location of every brick to be laid based on a 3D CAD design, then individually cuts and lays the bricks in sequence. Hadrian doesn’t even need to move during the laying process as its 28-foot long boom manipulator is dextrous enough to both set the brick and slather on mortar as well. It even leaves space for pipes and wiring.
Mountain View Man Renting Out Small Tent Near Google For $965 Per Month
June 26th, 2015Via: CBS:
The housing crisis in the South Bay has a new form of short-term rental popping up.
A man in the Monta Loma neighborhood of Mountain View is renting out a Coleman tent in a “beautiful garden” outside his home for visitors or slightly more permanent residences for the high price of $46 per night; an amount that adds up to roughly $965 per month.
“I had been joking recently with someone about people would probably take a tent in a backyard and pay for it, so I decided to try it, and people actually were quite responsive,” said tent landlord John Potter.
