Social Sciences

Charles H.V. Ebert, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo, will talk about "Hurricanes and Tornadoes" at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 in the opening program of the 2007-08 Western New York Science and Technology Forum lecture series for area teachers.

The Regional Institute has expanded its Regional Knowledge Network (RKN), an online information resource on the binational region of Buffalo Niagara, by adding data and mapping features to its section on Transportation & Land Use.

The region some of us call "Western New York" is called "Buffalo Niagara" by many, the "Niagara Frontier" by some and "Greater Buffalo" by others. Still different terms are used to describe areas within the region, such as the "Southern Tier" to the south and "Genesee" for parts between Buffalo and Rochester.

The bridge collapse in Minneapolis this week raises fears about personal safety in most of us, especially those who have suffered past traumas or from personal safety phobias, according to a University at Buffalo expert on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Drinking malt liquor -- the cheap, high-alcohol beverage often marketed to teens -- may put young adults at increased risk for alcohol problems and use of illicit drugs, particularly marijuana, according to a new study of malt liquor drinkers and marijuana use by scientists at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

City Voices City Visions is a partnership between UB and the Buffalo Public Schools that provides teachers in grades 6-12 with innovative approaches to using digital video arts as a literacy tool in their classrooms. The goal is to raise the academic achievement -- and thus increase the post-graduate opportunities -- of these students, who attend classes in a variety of urban neighborhoods.

Primate tourism, an economic benefit and conservation tool in many habitat countries, has exploded in popularity over the past two decades in places like China, Borneo, Uganda, Rwanda, Northern Sumatra, Madagascar, Gabon and Central America. New research by scientists in the United States, China and Japan, however, has found that some primate tourism practices are inappropriate because they provoke an unprecedented level of adult aggression that is proving deadly for infant monkeys.

Bloody murder has been a quintessentially American preoccupation since John Newcomen sailed in on the Mayflower and was whacked by a fellow colonist. What followed in America from the 17th century to the present, says cultural analyst and author David F. Schmid, Ph.D., is a form of "entertainment by murder," a ghastly enthrallment that conflates some of Americans' favorite preoccupations: consumerism, titillation by celebrity gossip and violence.

A study by a University at Buffalo urban planning researcher has found that houses located within a half-mile radius of Buffalo's light rail stations are assessed at $1,300 to $3,000 more than similar properties that are not within walking distance of the stations.

Monica Ridgeway, a University at Buffalo undergraduate entering her senior year, knows that when people think of a scientist, they usually think of a white male in a lab coat; but not too far in the future, she hopes they will envision someone more like herself, a young African-American woman with a head full of braids who is curious about correlations between frozen mud and global warming.