Moss in space & fluoride in water

Thursday, 27 November 2025 - 8:30am
Scattered plants of spreading earthmoss (Physcomitrium patens) on mud at Usk Reservoir (Photo by Claire Halpin, British Bryological Society)

This week, Stu lets us into the secret world of moss, how they're different to other plants, and how they're so hardy they can even survive on the outside of spacecraft; and Claire gets her teeth into a new, large longitudinal study that showed water fluoridation did not harm cognition or IQ.

 

Maeng, Chang-hyun et al., Extreme environmental tolerance and space survivability of the moss, Physcomitrium patens. iScience, Volume 0, Issue 0, 113827 (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113827

 

John Robert Warren et al., Childhood fluoride exposure and cognition across the life course. Sci. Adv. 11, eadz0757 (2025). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adz0757

Chris, Stu, Linden & Claire
Thursday 8:30am to 9:00am
Entertaining news and discussion about research that has impact on society and providing a wide range of science and technology news. Distributed nationally on the Community Radio Network.

Presenter

Chris Lassig, Stuart Burns, Claire Farrugia and Linden Ashcroft.

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