Bruce Bower

Bruce Bower

Behavioral Sciences Writer

Bruce Bower has written about the behavioral sciences since 1984. He often writes about psychology, anthropology, archaeology and mental health issues. Bruce has a master's degree in psychology from Pepperdine University and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. Following an internship at Science News in 1981, he worked as a reporter at Psychiatric News, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, until joining Science News as a staff writer. In 1996, the American Psychological Association appointed Bruce a Science Writer Fellow, with a grant to visit psychological scientists of his own choosing. Early stints as an aide in a day school for children and teenagers with severe psychological problems and as a counselor in a drug diversion center provided Bruce with a surprisingly good background for a career in science journalism.

All Stories by Bruce Bower

  1. Anthropology

    Polynesian Latecomers: Easter Islanders took fast track to culture

    New radiocarbon dates from Easter Island indicate that the isolated Polynesian island was first colonized around A.D. 1200, up to 800 years later than had previously been thought.

  2. Archaeology

    Ancient Andean Maize Makers: Finds push back farming, trade in highland Peru

    Fossilized plant remains recovered from a nearly 4,000-year-old house in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru show that highland inhabitants cultivated maize and imported other plant foods from lowland forests at around the time that large societies developed in the region.

  3. Babies show budding number knowledge

    By 7 months of age, babies often can tell the difference between two and three entities, at least under certain circumstances.

  4. Anthropology

    Big Woman with a Distant Past: Stone Age gal embodies humanity’s cold shifts

    A 260,000-year-old partial skeleton previously found in China represents the largest known female among human ancestors and underscores the ancient origins of large, broad bodies adapted for survival in cold conditions.

  5. Smart shoppers use unconscious tactics

    Consumers make better decisions about major purchases if they heed the power of their unconscious minds.

  6. In Sickness and in Death: Spouses’ ills imperil partners’ survival

    Among elderly people, a spouse's hospitalization for certain ailments substantially raises his or her partner's likelihood of dying.

  7. Combat Trauma from the Past: Data portray Civil War’s mental, physical fallout

    A new analysis of 19th-century medical records indicates that U.S. Civil War soldiers who experienced considerable combat trauma but survived the war developed more than their share of mental and physical ailments later in life.

  8. Finding a face place in monkeys’ brains

    Monkeys recognize a wide variety of faces thanks to a brain area that specializes in face perception.

  9. Depression’s rebirth in pregnant women

    Expectant mothers who temporarily stop taking their antidepressant medication stand a good chance of sinking back into depression while pregnant.

  10. Self-Serve Brains

    New brain-imaging studies and investigations of certain types of brain damage suggest that the right hemisphere typically coordinates one's sense of being a self, with a body and a set of life experiences distinct from those of other people.

  11. Red Alert for Red Apes: DNA shows big losses for Borneo orangutans

    A new genetic study charts a steep population decline among orangutans in northeastern Borneo, raising new concerns about possible extinction of the animals within the next few decades.

  12. Anthropology

    India cultivated homegrown farmers

    A new analysis of Y chromosome structure supports the view that around 10,000 years ago, people living in what's now India took up farming rather than giving way to foreigners who brought agriculture into South Asia.