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. Verbal sighting in brains of the blind

    Brain areas typically responsible for visual processing instead contribute to verbal skills in blind people.

  2. Anthropology

    Evolution’s Buggy Ride: Lice leap boldly into human-origins fray

    A controversial genetic analysis of lice raises the possibility that some type of physical contact occurred between ancient humans and Homo erectus, probably in eastern Asia between 50,000 and 25,000 years ago.

  3. Car deaths rise days after terror attacks

    A spike in automobile fatalities in Israel 3 days after each of a recent series of terrorist attacks reflects a delayed, population-wide reaction to those violent incidents, two researchers propose.

  4. Two-Headed Memories: Collaboration gives recall lift to elderly

    Collaboration with a spouse improves the accuracy of older people's memories on tasks such as remembering items on a shopping list or identifying familiar landmarks on a local map.

  5. Schizophrenia takes fatal turn in China

    Suicides among people with schizophrenia are a major public-health concern in China.

  6. Anthropology

    Ancient head case

    A 1.8-million-year-old Homo erectus skullcap came from a 1-year-old child whose brain grew at a rate more like that of chimpanzees than of people.

  7. Mothering Malnutrition: Moms’ depression weighs on infants in Pakistan

    Maternal depression critically contributes to malnutrition-related health problems among infants in rural Pakistan.

  8. Anthropology

    Human ancestor gets leg up on walking

    A new analysis of a 6-million-year-old leg fossil from a member of the human evolutionary family indicates that this individual walked upright with nearly the same deftness as people today do.

  9. The woman who lost her capacity to dream

    A rare instance in which brain damage caused a woman to lose the ability to dream may help scientists understand the neural basis of dreaming.

  10. Anthropology

    In the Neandertal Mind

    Neandertals possessed much the same mental capacity as ancient people did, but a genetically inspired memory boost toward the end of the Stone Age may have allowed Homo sapiens to prosper while Neandertals died out.

  11. A Very Spatial Brain Defect: Gene disorder blocks neural path for vision

    Among its many unusual symptoms, the genetic disorder called Williams syndrome robs people of depth perception and the ability to visualize how different parts assemble into larger objects.

  12. Cultured Readers: Chinese kids show new neural side of dyslexia

    Brain disturbances that underlie the inability to read a non-alphabetic script, such as Chinese, differ from those already implicated in the impaired reading of alphabetic systems, such as English.