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. Lost Sight, Found Sound: Visual cortex sees way to acquiring new duties

    Brain areas that are usually devoted solely to vision can take on new duties following severe or total sight loss.

  2. Paleontology

    Pieces of an Ancestor: African site yields new look at ancient species

    Fossils unearthed at sites in eastern Africa provide a rare look at Ardipithecus ramidus, a member of the human evolutionary family that lived more than 4 million years ago.

  3. Goodnight moon, hello Mom and Dad

    A California survey indicates that the practice of allowing babies and toddlers to sleep in the same bed as their parents do occurs in two forms, each with its own implications for the quality of family sleep and the children's psychological development.

  4. Same brain region handles whistles and words

    Brain areas already implicated in the use and comprehension of spoken language play comparable roles in the whistled messages of shepherds living on an island near Spain.

  5. Hands-on Math Insights: Teachers’ mismatched gestures boost learning

    As teachers instruct a child, they typically use their hands as well as their voices, but only certain gestures pack a powerful educational punch.

  6. Anthropology

    Temples of Boom: Ancient Hawaiians took fast road to statehood

    A boom in temple construction on two Hawaiian islands around 400 years ago marked the surprisingly rapid formation of an early political state.

  7. Anthropology

    Suddenly Civilized: New finds push back Americas’ first society

    The earliest known civilization in the Americas appears to have emerged about 5,000 years ago in what's now Peru.

  8. Anthropology

    Fossil ape makes evolutionary debut

    Newly discovered fossils from an ape that lived in what's now northeastern Spain around 13 million years ago may hold clues to the evolutionary roots of living apes and people.

  9. Anthropology

    Apes, monkeys split earlier than fossils had indicated

    A new genetic analysis pushes back the estimated time at which ancient lineages of monkeys and apes diverged to between 29 million and 34.5 million years ago, at least 4 million years earlier than previously thought.

  10. Immigration Blues: Born in the USA—Mental-health deficit

    A wide array of psychological disorders occur at a higher rate among the U.S.-born offspring of immigrants than among the immigrants themselves, a national study finds.

  11. Sit, Stay, Speak

    If dogs could verbally comment on the scientific study of canine minds and how they really think, it might sound something like this.

  12. Archaeology

    China’s Fermented Past: Pottery yields signs of oldest known wine

    Analyses of ancient pottery have yielded evidence the people living in northern China 9,000 years ago concocted a fermented, winelike drink from rice, honey, and fruit.