Geophysicists conducting an analysis of earthquakes in the area around the Salton Sea Geothermal Field in southern California found a strong correlation between seismic activity and operations for production of geothermal power, which involve pumping water into and out of an underground reservoir. 

Using the same kind of mathematical formulas used to draw political redistricting maps, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a model that would allow for the more equitable allocation of livers from deceased donors for transplantation.

They claim that where you live dictates the availability of a liver transplant - geography can mean the difference between a 10 percent chance of dying while on the waiting list for a donor liver, and a 90 percent chance.

Their new model ignores the longstanding relationships among medical centers used to create the current unbalanced system and makes the distribution of organs as equitable as possible, they say.

A survey found that new moms in Canada are weaning their infants early instead of feeding them just breast milk for the first six months of life. 
That falls below recommendations made by the World Health Organization and endorsed in 2004 by Health Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society. 

The authors surveyed 402 pregnant women at three months postpartum and 300 of them again at the six-month mark, and found that though almost 99 percent of the women started out breastfeeding their babies, only 54 percent were still exclusively breastfeeding three months after giving birth. That number dropped again to 15 per cent by six months, in line with the national average, which is also low for breastfeeding.

Arctic summers could be ice-free as early as 2030, said Dr. Mark C. Serreze, director of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC - part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences based at the University of Colorado in Boulder) in the briefing for a seminar to be held on Tuesday, July 16th, at 10 a.m. EDT. 

In the session "Environmental Impacts of the Arctic's Shrinking Sea-Ice Cover" he will examine the social and economic effects of the retreat of the Arctic Ice Cap and the opening of the Arctic Ocean.  Registration is open to everyone free of charge.

Scientists and policy makers need all the evidence to make informed decisions about medicines but drug research is an area where privacy concerns and transparency are in conflict.

Brain cancer is the primary cause of cancer mortality in children but even when the cancer is cured, the stress of treatment can be harmful to developing brains.

The search is always on for gentler cures and the PedBrain consortium, launched in 2010, has published the results of the first 96 genome analyses of pilocytic astrocytomas. 

Pilocytic astrocytomas are the most common childhood brain tumors. They usually grow very slowly and are often difficult to access by surgery and cannot be completely removed, which means that they can recur. The disease may thus become chronic and have debilitating effects for affected children.