Good daily dental care can give you a whiter smile and keep you healthier, too. Your mouth may be the doorway to bacterial infections that can cause any number of problems ranging from gum disease to heart disease, and although the link between dental care and whole body health is ongoing, there are a few things that are a sure bet.

There are plenty of choices when it comes to water flosser tips.

Flossing helps keep plaque growth, gum disease and tooth decay under better control, and using a water flosser is an effective option. Although flossing with water may not be as effective as traditional string flossing in all circumstances, a study conducted by the University of Nebraska in 2005 concluded that it was as effective as brushing in combination with string flossing for the reduction of plaque, gingivitis and bleeding.

Because water flossers are easy and fun to use, kids and adults may be more likely to use them regularly, too, which offers a huge potential benefit over not flossing at all or only flossing occasionally. Read more

As the availability of clean, potable water becomes an increasingly urgent issue in many parts of the world, researchers are searching for new ways to treat salty, brackish or contaminated water to make it usable. Now a team at MIT has come up with an innovative approach that, unlike most traditional desalination systems, does not separate ions or water molecules with filters, which can become clogged, or boiling, which consumes great amounts of energy.

MIT team invents efficient shockwave-based process for desalination of water.

Instead, the system uses an electrically driven shockwave within a stream of flowing water, which pushes salty water to one side of the flow and fresh water to the other, allowing easy separation of the two streams. The new approach is described in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, in a paper by professor of chemical engineering and mathematics Martin Bazant, graduate student Sven Schlumpberger, undergraduate Nancy Lu, and former postdoc Matthew Suss. Read more

Going green in an apartment has two large obstacles. The first obstacle is that landlord. I’ve had downright awful landlords in the past. I’ve gone without heat in the winter and have had my security deposit vanish due to trumped up offenses. My current landlord is a good person. He is fussy about his property, and I cannot make any significant home modifications without forms signed in triplicate. And even with the forms, he can still just say no. That means I cannot install double-pane windows or upgrade my insulation.

The other obstacle is the transient nature of apartment life. An apartment dweller doesn’t own the apartment, therefore, they won’t want to make upgrades to the apartment that they cannot keep when they leave. Of course, you can try and work things out with your landlord to get a discount on rent or some of your deposit money refunded early, but then you are back to obstacle one. Read more

Clean water. It’s something most of us take for granted. We turn on a faucet and don’t give a second thought that the water coming out of it for cooking, cleaning and drinking is pure and safe.

For many around the world, however, this can be a risky assumption. The supply of healthy water can’t keep up with the demands of increasing populations, as well as the effects of climate change. But scientists are developing a technology that can help address this crisis using something we do have plenty of: sunlight.

More than 2 billion people worldwide live without access to safe, clean water. As the problem is exacerbated by climate change, scientists have come up with a new solution using sunlight, a plentiful resource.

The United Nations says more than 2 billion people are without ready access to safe, clean water for drinking and for sanitation — a basic human right declared by the U.N. General Assembly in 2010. And 1 million people die each year from diseases related to unsafe water and hygiene. Add to this the dual demands of more agriculture and more energy that more people create, as well as the changing weather patterns that are increasingly common, and the pressures for a safe and stable water supply only continue to increase. Read more

Food and shelter are crucial for living, but nobody can survive for very long without water. That’s why, since the beginning of history, civilizations have lived near abundant sources of H20.

University of Virginia engineer Jim Smith and Dr. Rebecca Dillingham, co-directors of PureMadi, are shown with one of the ceramic water filters their company makes and distributes in South Africa for communities with little access to clean water.

But it’s not enough just to have plenty of it. The same water that gives life can also make people sick or even kill them, if it contains dangerous substances or disease-causing microbes. And since people use water for activities such as irrigating crops, washing and waste disposal, sources of water close to a human population can easily become contaminated. Read more