UB in the News

An article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle about unrest in the Middle East and North Africa sending oil -- and gasoline -- prices skyrocketing quotes Lawrence Southwick, professor emeritus of finance and managerial economics. Costlier oil "hits gas and diesel prices right away," he said.

Elayne Rapping, professor emeritus of American studies, is quoted in an article in the Detroit News about teen dramas and their focus on sex, and the pressure parents groups are putting advertisers to drop their support of the shows. "Kids are bombarded with ideas and images that promote early and excessive sexual behavior. But what's more disturbing is TV has ceded its ground to this kind of teen programming for kids and increasingly offers little else for them to think about or imagine," she said.

An article in Discovery News looks at research conducted by J. David Smith, professor of psychology and cognitive science, on the self awareness of Macaque monkeys and the functional parallels to metacognition in humans.

An article in the Christian Science Monitor about the economic toll from the earthquake in New Zealand quotes JiYoung Park, assistant professor of urban and regional planning. Transportation and lost productivity are among the economic problems that country faces, Park said. "Laborers will lose their money directly …. And the economy will be impacted again by the losses of their purchases," he said. The article also appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A story on ABC News reports a new UB study has found that boys are more stimulated by caffeine than girls and both genders have a preference for junk food after being primed with caffeine, leading researchers to wonder whether early exposure to caffeine predisposes a person toward drug abuse, and whether caffeine is a contributor to the current obesity epidemic. The story interviews Jennifer Temple, a behavioral neurobiologist and assistant professor in the departments of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences and Psychology.

Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education, is quoted in an article in the Chronicle for Higher Education about India's fast-growing higher education market and the failure of American colleges to become more engaged in that growth. American study-abroad numbers to India have remained fairly low, he said, in part because of a lack of interest among public institutions in India in developing exchange programs. Dunnett made his remarks at the annual conference of the Association of International Education Administrators in San Francisco.

J. David Smith, professor of psychology and cognitive science, was featured in a Science magazine special podcast from the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington D.C., discussing his work in metacognition in people, pigeons and Macaque monkeys, and using techniques developed for studying animals to discover when children know what they know.

An article on the Huffington Post reports on efforts by House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa to defund research he finds objectionable, including research by R. Lorraine Collins, a psychologist and associate dean of public health research. Most of the funding for her research involving marijuana and malt liquor has already been spent, she said, noting that her research does not simply study the effects of the substances in conjunction with one another – it examines methods by which public health officials can limit such use.

A story on UPI reports new nanomaterials research from UB could lead to new solutions to the age-old public health problem of how to separate bacteria from drinking water. Articles also appeared on Science Daily, Infection Control Today, Pollution Online, Water Online and Smart Planet.

An article in The National reports research conducted by David Smith, professor of psychology, has shown that monkeys are capable of exhibiting self doubt, a skill, he said, that is "one of the most important facets of humans' reflective minds." An article about his research also appeared in The Scientist.