Social Sciences

A nation-wide cancer information program targeting African-Americans, called the Witness Project, is partnering with a University at Buffalo genetic epidemiologist to conduct the first national study of genes that increase breast cancer susceptibility in African-American families.

For the several local governments attempting to trim costs by cutting the size of its boards or legislators, the actual savings is likely to be negligible while loss in representation and responsiveness can be extreme, according to the latest research of the University at Buffalo Regional Institute.

Excessive drinking or smoking by a husband or wife can strain a marriage. However, is it substance use specifically that causes problems within a relationship, or is it the difference in the amount of drinking and smoking between a husband and wife that loosens the ties that bind? That question is the crux of a report by Gregory G. Homish, Ph.D., assistant professor of health behavior, and colleagues in University at Buffalo's School of Public Health and Health Professions and UB's Research Institute on Addictions.

Against the backdrop of last week's Congressional hearing into the future of forensic science, researchers from the University at Buffalo's Laboratory for Forensic Odontology Research in the School of Dental Medicine, have published a landmark paper on the controversial topic of bitemark analysis.

J. David Smith, Ph.D., a comparative psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has conducted extensive studies in animal cognition, says there is growing evidence that animals share functional parallels with human conscious metacognition -- that is, they may share humans' ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind.

People who live through an extreme traumatic experience such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks or an airplane crash often have the capacity to bounce back or even grow to a higher level of functioning and personal strength, according to a University at Buffalo researcher and expert in the effects of horrifying trauma.

Driver education classes should be teaching young drivers that all kinds of mobile phones, both conventional and hands-free, are a dangerous distraction, says a University at Buffalo researcher, who studies driving behaviors.

In a study published in the most recent issue of the journal Sociological Inquiry, sociologists from four major research institutions focus on one of the most curious aspects of the 2004 presidential election: the strength and resilience of the belief among many Americans that Saddam Hussein was linked to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Stephen Marc, a noted African-American photographer and digital montage artist, has spent nearly a decade on the road in the U.S. and Canada documenting the places and people associated with America's Underground Railroad. The network of secret routes and safe houses used by escaping enslaved African Americans is the subject of "Passage on the Underground Railroad," an exhibition of complex digital montages that will be presented in the University at Buffalo Art Gallery.

A new project developed by the University at Buffalo's School of Social Work will help fill a statewide shortage of certified alcoholism and substance abuse counselors, making it easier for master's graduates to get approval for their training.