Social Sciences

Mark Frank has spent two decades studying the faces of people lying when in high-stakes situations and has good news for security experts. "Executing Facial Control During Deception Situations," a new study he co-authored with former graduate student Carolyn M. Hurley, PhD, reports that although liars can reduce facial actions when under scrutiny, they can't suppress them all.

Which U.S. metro region is most likely to come out of the next recession, natural disaster or other regional "shock" relatively unscathed? Rochester, Minn. A little more battered might be College Station-Bryan, Texas. These two regions are ranked first and last, respectively, by a new online tool measuring more than 360 U.S. metros for their "regional resilience," or capacity to weather acute and chronic stresses ranging from gradual economic decline to rapid population gains to earthquakes and floods.

In the first study of its kind in an animal species that has not passed a critical test of self-recognition, cognitive psychologist Justin J. Couchman of the University at Buffalo has demonstrated that rhesus monkeys have a sense of self-agency -- the ability to understand that they are the cause of certain actions -- and possess a form of self awareness previously not attributed to them.

The University at Buffalo Regional Institute, known for its cutting-edge policy research, and the Urban Design Project, a key contributor across two decades to planning and place-making efforts throughout the region, are joining forces.

Frequent use of energy drinks is associated with binge drinking, alcohol-related social problems and misuse of prescription drugs among musicians, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.

A comprehensive statewide study finds that the State University of New York is positioned to be the critical force in building a new innovation economy for New York -- with a broad and diverse array of economic development activities already in place across the 64-campus system, and with a growing potential to do more in the future.

As Rust Belt cities transform vacant lots into green space for growing vegetables, University at Buffalo researchers are using modeling to help assess the City of Buffalo's capacity for sustainable agriculture.

Move over, Howard Roark! There's a new architect in town and she's not afraid of the color pink. Mattel's Architect Barbie, icon of the building trades, is ready for launch.

A month in ancient, sub-Arctic peat bogs among the seals and grizzlies of Kamchatka's outer banks is not for the out-of-shape or faint-of-heart. Fortunately, Claude Larson is neither. An intrepid, Montreal-born and exceptionally fit middle-school science teacher from Oak Ridge, N.J., Larson has climbed mountains, jumped from planes and trawled the North Atlantic to survey the sea scallop population.

Bad news for muggle parents! A new study by psychologists at the University at Buffalo finds that we more or less "become" vampires or wizards just by reading about them.