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Adding fluoride to tap water to prevent tooth decay is one of our greatest public health achievements. Yet, myths persist about whether it’s safe and works. from www.shutterstock.com

Four myths about water fluoridation and why they’re wrong

Myths that fluoridated water isn’t natural, safe, doesn’t work and shouldn’t be used to make up infant formula persist. Here’s what the evidence says.
Award-winning French author Michel Houellebecq is no stranger to controversy. kojoku/Shutterstock

Paris attack brings focus to French author Michel Houellebecq

When gunmen (thought to be radicalized Muslims) burst into the offices of Charlie Hebdo on the morning of January 7, the front page of the satirical newspaper’s most recent edition featured a caricature…
Frederic Bazille’s Studio 9 Rue de la Condamine (left) and Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barber Shop (right). The computer was able to detect similarities in the composition of both paintings. Yellow circles indicate similar objects, red lines indicate composition, and the blue square represents similar structural elements.

Computer science can only help – not hurt – art historians

I was the lead of a team of computer scientists at Rutgers that published a paper this past August titled, “Toward Automated Discovery of Artistic Influence.” In that paper we reported on our research…
Climate change tends to attract some form of protest such as this in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Flickr/Simon Leufstedt

Why do some controversies persist despite the evidence?

The debate over climate change is relatively young while nuclear power and pesticides have been heated topics since the 1960s, and fluoridation since the 1950s. So what is it about these scientific controversies…

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