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The University of Louisville will offer a free, public panel discussion Feb. 27 about the history of same-sex relationships in the Middle East and the significance for modern politics and social attitudes in the region.

UofL Today would like all UofL faculty and staff to tell us how we are doing.

California-based technology consultant Rich Miller will speak Feb. 12 at the University of Louisville about “Inventing the Future: Digital Technologies, Entrepreneurship and the Rise of Silicon Valley.”

Specific compounds found in exhaled breath may help diagnose lung cancer in its early stages, according to a study released today at the 50th Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

The University of Louisville will participate in V-Day 2014, a global movement that seeks to end violence against women, with events and activities Feb. 3-8.

The University of Louisville’s College of Arts and Sciences will honor former dean and longtime professor J. Blaine Hudson with a Feb. 27 posthumous induction into its Hall of Honor.

The University of Louisville has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 27 percent in seven years, according to a report it submitted Jan. 15 to a national organization working to address climate change.

The spring Axton Reading Series at the University of Louisville will bring back former UofL Axton creative-writing fellows Austin Bunn and Kyle Coma-Thompson as well as fiction, nonfiction and criticism author Elissa Schappell.

University of Louisville music students are taking part in their own version of the United Nations for two performances of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” They and counterparts from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, will stage the show Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. at Brown Theatre, 315 W. Broadway.

Excess abdominal fat can be a precursor to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. A person’s measure of belly fat is reflected in the ratio of waist circumference to hip circumference, and it is estimated that genetics account for about 30-60 percent of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Kira Taylor, PhD, MS, assistant professor, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, and her research team have identified five new genes associated with increased WHR, potentially moving science a step closer to developing a medication to treat obesity or obesity-related diseases.