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. Mental Meeting of the Sexes: Boys’ spatial advantage fades in poor families

    The frequently observed superiority of boys to girls on tests of spatial skill disappears in children of poor families, indicating that this mental ability responds more sensitively to environmental influences than has been assumed.

  2. Anthropology

    Gone with the Flow: Ancient Andes canals irrigated farmland

    Excavations in the Andes mountains have unearthed the earliest known irrigation canals in South America.

  3. Bad Readout from DNA: Genes that act on brain may promote dyslexia

    Studies conducted in the United States, Germany, and England indicate that two genes, both located on chromosome 6 and involved in orchestrating neural migration in developing brains, contribute to the severe learning disorder known as dyslexia.

  4. Dopamine gene ups schizophrenia risk

    A long-term study of children with a rare chromosome deletion indicates that those who have a single copy of a gene that promotes a dopamine overload in the brain have an above-average risk of developing schizophrenia later in life.

  5. Anthropology

    Chimps indifferent to others’ welfare

    New laboratory experiments suggest that chimpanzees, unlike people, don't care about the welfare of unrelated members of their social groups.

  6. Questions on the Couch

    A new policy statement on evidence-based practice from the American Psychological Association illustrates the intense struggle among researchers and clinicians over how best to study the effectiveness of psychotherapy in its many forms.

  7. Left Out by a Stroke: Right-brain injury may upset attention balance

    People who suddenly ignore everything to their left after suffering a right-brain stroke display disturbed activity in uninjured parts of a widespread neural network associated with attention.

  8. Early Stress in Rats Bites Memory Later On: Inadequate care to young animals delivers delayed hit to the brain

    The stress of receiving poor maternal care for a short period after birth comes back to haunt rats by stimulating memory losses and related brain disturbances in middle age.

  9. Anthropology

    Encore for Evolutionary Small-Timers: Tiny human cousins get younger with new finds

    Excavations in an Indonesian cave have yielded more fossils of short, upright creatures that lived as recently as 12,000 years ago.

  10. Anthropology

    Wild gorillas take time for tool use

    Gorillas that balance on walking sticks and trudge across makeshift bridges have provided the first evidence of tool use among these creatures in the wild.

  11. Archaeology

    Q Marks the Spot: Recent find fingers long-sought Maya city

    A hieroglyphic-covered stone panel discovered at an ancient Maya site in Guatemala last April adds weight to suspicions that the settlement was Site Q, an enigmatic city about which researchers have long speculated.

  12. Brains disconnect as people sleep

    Rather than turning off completely during sleep, the brain shuts down communication among structures that make up neural networks.