IU Health and Wellness for September discusses research that looks at how living conditions impact reproductive health and how attitudes about female genitals can impact sexuality and sexual health. It also provides workout tips for runners driven indoors by allergies or weather.

The National Endowment for the Humanities' "We the People" project has awarded a group of Indiana University anthropologists $250,000 to transcribe, translate and publish the oral literature of the Assiniboine, a northern Plains Indian tribe with only about 50 living members still fluent in the tribal language of Nakota.

A prehistoric, water-filled cave in the Dominican Republic has become a "treasure trove" with the announcement by Indiana University archaeologists of the discovery of stone tools, a small primate skull in remarkable condition, and the claws, jawbone and other bones of several species of sloths.

Seven Indiana University Bloomington faculty have received 2009 Summer Instructional Development Fellowships from the offices of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs to develop specialized and innovative courses. They are Sonya Atalay in anthropology; Colleen Ryan-Scheutz and Kelly Sax in French and Italian; Beth Samuelson in literacy, language and culture education; Kalpana Shankar in informatics; Kay Connelly in computer science; and Rex Sprouse in Germanic studies and second language studies.

Kubat Tabaldiev of Kyrgyzstan traveled six thousand miles from one of the most culturally diverse sites on earth to watch members of the Ojibwe tribe perform Native American dances in Michigan. He loved the experience so much that he couldn't wait to get back home and share what he learned.

Four Indiana University Bloomington researchers are presenting at this year's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago. Descriptions of their talks as well as contact information are provided.

The effects of Amazon deforestation where agriculture production has been ramped up through increased mechanization will receive further study by an Indiana University anthropology professor thanks to a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded Indiana University $200,000 to turn the Captain Kidd shipwreck site and three other underwater preserves in the Dominican Republic into no-take, no-anchor "Living Museums," where cultural discoveries will protect precious corals and other threatened biology in the surrounding reef systems under the supervision and support of the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural Subacuático.

Discovery of the most intact female pelvis of Homo erectus may cause scientists to reevaluate how early humans evolved to successfully birth larger-brained babies. The discovery will be published in Science this week (Nov. 14) by IU paleoanthropologist Sileshi Semaw, leader of the Gona Project in Ethiopia, where the fossil pelvis was discovered with a group of six other scientists, including IU Department of Geosciences graduate student Melanie Everett.

Always thought-provoking, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in the coming months will entertain and challenge from the proscenium stage -- IU Auditorium -- while also meeting the Bloomington and Indiana University communities at our own level, so to speak, through grant-funded workshops, a visiting artist residency, symposia and panel discussions. The Washington, D.C.-based company performs Ferocious Beauty: Genome at IU Auditorium on Feb. 26.

This issue features books on growing perennial plants, the açaí fruit economy in Brazil, the work of environmental writer Rachel Carson, the IT threat posed by crimeware, the history and mission of philanthropy, Native American place-names in Indiana, the influence of business on public policy in China and the art of teaching music.

Paula Dias, an Indiana University Bloomington junior, has been selected as a 2008 Beinecke Scholar. Dias is one of only 22 students nationwide to receive the $34,000 award, which supports graduate study in the arts, humanities or social sciences. She is the fifth IU student to receive the award.

Two international conferences taking place in April at Indiana University will apply scholarly and scientific analysis to questions of race in the U.S. and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. "Blackness in Latin America and the Caribbean" will take place April 4-5, and "Rethinking Race in the Americas: Anthropology, Politics and Policy" will be April 17-18.

In this edition of Lecture Notes, March 17-30, meet New York Time's political columnist William Safire and enjoy some quality time in the garden with the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center.

The public is invited to explore pirate lore on Feb. 12 as Indiana University archeologists Charles Beeker and Geoffrey Conrad discuss their ongoing research in the Dominican Republic, including their work to study and protect what they believe is a shipwreck of notorious pirate Captain Kidd.

Resting in less than 10 feet of Caribbean seawater, the wreckage of Quedagh Merchant, the ship abandoned by the scandalous 17th century pirate Capt. Kidd as he raced to New York in an ill-fated attempt to clear his name, has escaped discovery -- until now. An underwater archaeology team from Indiana University announced today (Dec. 13) the discovery of the remnants.

The Indiana University Bloomington Anthropology Department now offers a Ph.D. in the anthropology of food. "Food studies of all kinds are increasing in popularity," said Anthropology Department Chair Eduardo Brondizio. "IU offers the first program in the world leading to a Ph.D. in the social science of food."

An international symposium, "The Human Brain Evolving: Papers in Honor of Ralph L. Holloway," will take place April 27-28 in Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Sponsored by the Stone Age Institute and IU, the event will feature presentations by major researchers on diverse aspects of brain evolution. The range of specialties includes paleoneurology, human paleontology, archaeology, primatology and cognitive science.

Kay Connelly and Minaxi Gupta, from the Indiana University School of Informatics, have been selected as recipients of the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award at IU Bloomington. Sara L. Friedman, Dongwhan Lee and Edward Watts, faculty in the IU College of Arts and Sciences, complete the group of five winners for 2006-07.

Advocacy groups for American Indians at Indiana University and the Mathers Museum of World Cultures are working together to promote better understanding of American Indians through educational outreach and public events through Dec. 20.

This edition of "Lecture Notes" features information about lectures and speakers on the Indiana University Bloomington campus from Nov. 6-20, including "Lunch with a Curator," a former chief of the CIA European Division and interesting discoveries from the Stone Age Institute.

Por ironía del destino, se acabó el tiempo y había mucho cieno y lodo en la Bahía Isabela, localizada en la costa norteña de la República Dominicana. A pesar de estos reveses, piensan los arqueólogos de la Universidad de Indiana (IU) que están a punto de descubrir algunos de los barcos perdidos de Cristóbal Colón - y la explicación de un misterio de 500 años, "Qué llevaban aquellos barcos a bordo?"

As luck would have it, time ran short and the silt and mud ran deep. Despite these setbacks, Indiana University archaeologists are confident they are closer to discovering some of Christopher Columbus' lost ships -- and the answer to a 500-year-old mystery, "What was on those ships?"