NASA's apparent discovery of copious water on the moon is a revolutionary development that could help answer questions about the origin of water on earth and other mysteries of the solar system, says Indiana University geologist Abhijit Basu.

This issue of Book Marks features a new Indiana University Press publication of Rachel Peden's 1961 book Rural Free: A Farmwife's Almanac of Country Living and new books about the Karen minority in Burma, the importance of place and relationships in aging, the education and training of Reform Jewish cantors and the men who integrated professional football, including IU's George Taliaferro.

Dozens of researchers from Indiana University are attending the American Public Health Association's annual meeting in Philadelphia, Nov. 7-11. This release discusses research involving education for people with intellectual disabilities, the reasons people use lubricants during sex, how support for smoking bans can encourage smokers to consider quitting, the use of stability balls for office chairs, a program that increases mammograms for African American women and a program that helps people become active.

Indiana University experts offer holiday-themed tips involving fear and drastic change, H1N1 and familiar greetings, staying active and thrifty gift-giving in the October issue of IU Health and Wellness.

The denial of a marriage license to an interracial couple by a Louisiana justice of the peace was unconstitutional, according to an Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor. According to news reports, the justice of the peace denied the couple's marriage license application earlier this month due to concerns for their future children.

The U.S. Supreme Court has begun its 2009-10 term and is hearing arguments in two cases this week. Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Dan Conkle is available to comment on both. Arguments in United States v. Stevens will be heard today (Oct. 6). The case tests the government's ability to ban depictions of animal cruelty, including dogfighting, as a way to prohibit animal torture. Salazar v. Buono, to be heard on Wednesday (Oct. 7), involves the erection of a cross on federal land in the Mojave National Preserve in California.

Leading experts in their fields will discuss such topics as samurai rulers, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, comics, musicology in India, evolution and creationism, and much more, during lectures at Indiana University Bloomington and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis throughout October.

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.

In IU Health and Wellness for August, IU experts discuss serious weight concerns involving fall high school sports and new research into how attitudes about smoking are transferred from parents to children and can predict smoking onset.

Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, will face a special trial for judicial misconduct in the capital punishment case of Michael Wayne Richard. Charles Geyh, the John F. Kimberling Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, comments on the case.

This back-to-school issue of IU Health and Wellness includes articles about Influenza A (H1N1), important sexual health information for incoming college freshmen, nurturing kids' interest in technology, and an inside view of how a sorority polices members' "ladylike" behavior.

A judge in Minnesota has ruled that a family must get medical treatment for their 13-year-old son's cancer because it is highly treatable. Based on the family's religious convictions, the family had chosen alternative treatments for their son's Hodgkin's lymphoma, which has a 90-percent cure rate with chemotherapy. According to Jody Madeira, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg correctly found that the parents of Daniel Hauser have medically neglected their son by refusing chemotherapy.

The November 2009 issue of Lecture Notes features Indiana University lectures on topics such as the state of Tocqueville studies, African art, research in neuroscience, Haitian art, profiteering in health care, artistic renderings of Abraham Lincoln during his youth in Indiana and many more.

An IU scientist's primer on climate change, a study of melodrama in Latin American cinema and television, an exploration of the flowering of Jewish culture in the late Russian empire, a memoir of growing up in New Orleans and a respected former congressman's argument for strengthening Congress are featured in this issue of Indiana University Book Marks.

Indiana University Bloomington professors have prepared comments about Hispanic issues to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month, which began Tuesday, Sept. 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries -- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua -- and continues until Oct. 15. IU professors Peter Guardino, Darlene Sadlier and Carol O. Rogers share their thoughts on topical issues relevant to these issues.

This edition of Lecture Notes features information about lectures and speakers on the Indiana University Bloomington campus from September 18-30, including Fritiz Haeg, creator of Edible Estates, and Patricia Clare Ingham, who will discuss technological gadgetry.

Lloyd Kolbe and Susan Middlestadt, obesity and public health experts in Indiana University Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, comment on a national report, which they say outlines a new era of combating obesity, particularly among American children.

This issue of Book Marks features books about the relationship between letter writing and white privilege in the America of the 1700s, the role of women in the Catholic Church in Congo-Brazzaville, a professor's guide to sexual pleasure for women, and and lives of gay youth living in rural areas and their use of the Internet to fit in.

Dozens of Indiana University researchers are participating in the American College of Sports Medicine national conference in Seattle this week. This media tip sheet discusses some of the studies presented, including research involving detecting and preventing the symptoms of exercise-induced asthma, a new bias in elite swimming, and how to maximize the benefits of high altitude training.

Dozens of Indiana University researchers participated in the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in San Francisco. In this media tip sheet, researchers discuss studies involving "coming out" in rural areas, public opinion about name change after marriage, the polarization of American politics, pet ownership, stigma and the medicalization of mental illness and bullies.

An IU expert who has traveled extensively in Iran is available to discuss next week's inauguration of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term in office and the country's worst political turmoil since 1979.

Joel Stager, director of the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming at Indiana University, says it's about time elite swimmers come around to the idea that high-tech swimsuits are bad news. "Finally the athletes are getting it into their heads that their efforts are being devalued. It's not about who wins or loses, but what suit they're wearing. It's disappointing."

An Indiana University law professor and cybersecurity expert said the recent wave of cyber attacks that shut down Web sites in the United States and South Korea over the July 4th weekend offer important lessons for policymakers. "These attacks demonstrate how vulnerable key computer systems remain," said Fred H. Cate, Distinguished Professor of Law and director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research.

News organizations are reporting that about 35 government and commercial Web sites in South Korea and the United States have came under major attack in recent days. Suspected in the coordinated cyber attack is North Korea or its sympathizers. Heon Joo Jung, an Indiana University expert on Korean politics, is available to speak with the news media.

As Iran enters the fourth week since its disputed presidential election, basic, irreversible changes are occurring -- begun and directed by the Iranian people themeselves, says Indiana University Professor Jamsheed Choksy, a specialist on Iranian history and religions.