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. Archaeology

    Ancient Mariners: Caves harbor view of early Egyptian sailors

    Archaeologists working near the Red Sea have discovered remains of an Egyptian port that emerged around 4,000 years ago, including two caves used by mariners for storage and for religious ceremonies.

  2. Goal-Oriented Brain Cells: Neurons may track action as a prelude to empathy

    Nerve cells located toward the back of a monkey's brain appear to assist in discerning the goals of specific actions.

  3. Read All about It

    Brain studies and cross-cultural investigations indicate that the neural path to becoming a good reader varies, depending on a person's inherent capacity for assessing print and on the design principles of his or her native writing system.

  4. Mood Brighteners: Light therapy gets nod as depression buster

    Brief periods of daily exposure to bright light are an effective treatment option for depression.

  5. Anthropology

    These spines were made for walking

    A new analysis of fossil backbones indicates that human ancestors living around 3 million years ago were able to walk much as people today do.

  6. Anthropology

    Noses didn’t need cold to evolve

    Neandertals evolved big, broad noses not in response to a cold climate, as has often been argued, but in conjunction with the expansion of their upper jaws.

  7. Anthropology

    Stone Age Cutups: Deathly rituals emerge at Neandertal site

    A new analysis of 130,000-year-old fossils found in a Croatian cave a century ago suggests that Neandertals ritually cut up corpses of their comrades and perhaps engaged in cannibalism.

  8. Anthropology

    Untangling Ancient Roots: Earliest hominid shows new, improved face

    New fossil finds and a digitally reconstructed skull bolster the claim that the oldest known member of the human evolutionary family lived in central Africa between 6 million and 7 million years ago.

  9. Animals

    DNA tells pigs’ tale of diverse ancestry

    A genetic study indicates that pigs were domesticated in at least seven different parts of Asia and Europe, not in just two regions, as many researchers had assumed.

  10. Babies Learn to Save Face: Infants get prepped to perceive

    A minimal amount of parent-directed training at home allows babies to sustain facial-discrimination skills that they would otherwise lose by age 9 months.

  11. College may endow memory to old brains

    College-educated older adults recruit new brain areas to counteract some of the memory loss that occurs with aging, a new brain-imaging study suggests.

  12. Possible Worlds

    A growing number of reports highlight imagination's pervasive influence on thinking, one example of which is the surprisingly large proportion of well-adjusted preschoolers who play with make-believe companions.