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. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Finding a face place in monkeys’ brains

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

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. Intrinsic Remedies for Pain: Placebo effect may take various paths in brain

    The brain draws on a range of pain-fighting options when people receive sham treatments for pain.

  9. Archaeology

    Getting a read on early Maya writing

    Excavators of a pyramid in northeastern Guatemala announced the discovery of the earliest known Maya writing.

  10. Masters of Disaster: Survey taps resilience of post-9/11 New York

    Telephone interviews with more than 2,700 people living in and around New York City yielded evidence of widespread psychological resilience during the 6 months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

  11. Archaeology

    Stone Age Britons pay surprise visit

    Estimated to be roughly 700,000 years old, stone tools recently unearthed along England's southeastern coast are the earliest evidence of human ancestors in northern Europe.

  12. Anthropology

    Stone Age Footwork: Ancient human prints turn up down under

    An ancient, dried-up lakeshore in Australia has yielded the largest known collection of Stone Age footprints, made about 20,000 years ago.