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. Ecosystems

    One-Celled Socialites

    A wave of research on the social lives of bacteria offers insights into the evolution of cooperation and may lead to medical breakthroughs that neutralize virulent bacterial strains.

  2. Synchronized Thinking: Brain activity linked to schizophrenia, skillful meditation

    In separate studies, scientists linked distinctive, collective electrical discharges of brain cells to certain schizophrenia symptoms as well to integrated mental states attained by Buddhist meditators.

  3. Man’s brain incurs disgusting loss

    A brain-damaged man yields clues to the neural organization responsible for experiencing disgust.

  4. Brain sets sights on mind’s eye

    Brain regions implicated in vision may also contribute to the images in the "mind's eye."

  5. Wayfaring Sleepers: Brain area linked to slumber-aided recall

    Enhanced activity in an inner-brain structure called the hippocampus during sleep solidifies memories of recently visited places and the routes taken to get to them.

  6. Summer births linked to schizophrenia

    People who develop a severe form of schizophrenia are strikingly likely to have been born in June or July, raising the possibility that seasonal influences on early brain development contribute to this disorder.

  7. Brain-based help for adults with dyslexia

    Intensive phonics instruction for adults with dyslexia yields brain changes that underlie their improved reading ability.

  8. Anthropology

    Evolutionary Shrinkage: Stone Age Homo find offers small surprise

    Scientists announced the discovery of the partial skeleton of a small-bodied Homo species that inhabited an eastern Indonesian island from at least 38,000 years ago until about 18,000 years ago.

  9. Language goes beyond sight, sound in brain

    Two brain areas long considered crucial for perceiving and speaking words also spring into action in deaf people who are using sign language or watching others do so.

  10. Medical Decisions in Question: Mental incapacity missed by docs

    A substantial minority of medical patients treated for acute conditions at a British hospital lacked the ability to make informed decisions about their care, although their physicians usually didn't recognize it.

  11. Anthropology

    Chimps show skill in termite fishing

    Video cameras set up in a central-African forest have recorded the sophisticated ways in which local chimpanzees catch termites for eating.

  12. Reworking Intuition

    Financially endangered companies rapidly reorganized to become profitable after key staff members ran simulated companies in 2-day sessions organized by a San Diego psychologist.