In 2008, an estimated 500,000,000 people were obese globally, which could result in a 2-4 year shorter life span, which increases to 8-10 years in those morbidly obese. Obesity is also a risk factor for adverse pregnancy and perinatal outcomes (relating to the time immediately before and after birth). 

Weight reduction is imperative to improve maternal health and bariatric surgery (the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity) is currently the most effective method. Its use has increased rapidly since the 1990s.

A paper in BMJ says that women with a history of obesity surgery are at increased risk of giving birth to preterm or small-for-gestational age babies and should be regarded as an at-risk group. 

Type 2 diabetes brings with it a long list of complementary issues: vascular and heart disease, eye problems, nerve damage, kidney disease, hearing problems and Alzheimer's disease.

A new study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research adds skeletal problems to that list, namely osteoporosis.

The sun uses fusion energy and everyone likes the idea of solar power but it requires a lot of infrastructure to translate that fusion energy to our usable kind. Fusion energy on Earth has been studied for decades, and it really isn't close, but if it takes another 50 years, it will be worth it. For that to happen, some known obstacles have to be overcome. 

Online course platforms are good for easier topics, like manufacturing or history, but they only provide a sort of "X For Dummies" way to get overview knowledge of science (still, free is hard to complain about) but Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is trying to do what Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare or iTunes U and even Phet Interactive Simulations cannot - let students interact with a real physical experiment.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has developed software for an experiment that can be observed and controlled from anywhere in the world. And a lot of it has been developed by high school and undergraduate interns.

Mapping the rise of life during the period of Earth's early history is challenging. Earth's oldest sedimentary rocks are not only rare, but have almost always altered by hydrothermal and tectonic activity.

But sometimes there are dramatic finds. A new study has revealed the well-preserved remnants of a complex ecosystem in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old sedimentary rock sequence in Australia. 

All musical training has some benefits for brains, but new research shows how brain regions communicate during the creation of music and find that extensive musical training affects the structure and function of different brain regions and even how the brain interprets and integrates sensory information.

These insights suggest potential new roles for musical training including fostering plasticity in the brain, an alternative tool in education, and treating a range of learning disabilities.

The new findings say that: