Learn about the latest books, journal articles, and reports of BU social scientists here.
The Center’s mission is to promote the work of Boston University’s social science faculty and our affiliates. If you have or know of someone who has a new publication, please email us at ciss@bu.edu.
 Peter R. Blake (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences & CISS Affiliate) The role of social comparison and emotion in children’s fairness judgments (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Jan 2026) Blake and his coauthors examined the role of emotions is shaping fairness judgments, both when the child was a recipient and when other children were. |
 John M. Marston (CAS/Archaeology & Anthropology & CISS Affiliate) Climate Change and World History: Evidence from the Site of Sym-Ota 1 in the Aral Sea Basin (Quaternary Science Advances, Jan 2026) Marston and his colleagues present new radiocarbon dating and environmental data from the river-adjacent site of Sym-Ota 1 at the base of the Khorezmian pivot that indicates inhabitants were able to modify the main channel of the Amu Darya 700 years earlier than previously known, by ca. 300 BCE suggesting that the hydromorphology of the Amu Darya delta has been shaped by over 2,000 years of human ecosystem engineering. |
 Cheryl Knott (CAS/Anthropology), Faye Harwell (CAS/Anthropology) and Erin Kane (CAS/Anthropology) Sex Differences in Estimated Lean Body Mass of Captive and Wild Orangutans (American Journal of Biological Anthropology, Jan 2026) Knott, Harwell, Kane and their co-authors investigate muscle mass differences of wild and captive orangutans among the age-sex classes while accounting for flange status. |
Amanda Tarullo (CAS/Psychological and Brain Sciences & CISS Affiliate) Physiological Markers of Early Social Skills in Rural South Africa: The Role of Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Heart Rate Variability (PubMed, Jan 2026) The prevalence of adversities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is linked to pervasive deficits in early social skills, yet little is known about the role of physiology in contributing to these processes. In this study, Tarullo and her colleagues explore two physiological measures across two timepoints in relation to social skills in a rural, low-resourced context. |