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. Lighting Up the Rainbow: Color perception tied to early visual experience

    A study of baby monkeys finds that exposure to natural light in the year after birth fosters their ability to recognize colors as lighting gets brighter or dimmer.

  2. Brain development disturbed in autism

    A brain-imaging study suggests that autism is characterized by disturbances in the development of the amygdala and the hippocampus, two inner-brain structures.

  3. Anthropology

    Chimps mature with human ancestor

    The Stone Age human ancestor Homo erectus grew at about the same pace as wild chimpanzees today do.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Suicide Watch: Antidepressants get large-scale inspection

    Data from the United Kingdom indicate that depressed patients attempt and complete suicides at an elevated rate in the 3 months after starting to take any of four antidepressant drugs.

  5. Archaeology

    Seeds of agriculture move back in time

    Excavations in Israel indicate that people began to eat large quantities of wild grass seeds and wild cereal grains by around 23,000 years ago, which pushes back by 10,000 years the estimated shift to a plant-rich diet.

  6. Groomed DNA Handles Threats: Mothering styles alter rats’ stress responses

    In rats, mothering styles set the genetic stage for a pup's lifelong responses to stressful situations.

  7. Female brains know how to fold ’em

    Women compensate for the smaller overall volume of their brains by squeezing more folds into some of the space than men do.

  8. Anthropology

    Living Long in the Tooth: Grandparents may have rocked late Stone Age

    A new analysis of fossil teeth indicates that the number of people surviving long enough to become grandparents dramatically increased about 30,000 years ago.

  9. Archaeology

    Rat DNA points to Pacific migrations

    An analysis of mitochondrial DNA from Pacific rats supports a theory that ancestors of today's Polynesians migrated from Southeast Asia to a string of South Pacific islands in at least two separate dispersals.

  10. Anthropology

    Erectus Experiment: Fossil find expands Stone Age anatomy

    A 930,000-year-old fossil cranium found in Africa widens the anatomical spectrum of Stone Age human ancestors and expands debate over how they evolved.

  11. Neurons take charge to change messages

    Neurons in a developing embryo respond to changes in their electrical activity by altering the types of chemical messengers that they produce.

  12. Untreated schizophrenia may spare brain

    Contrary to the fears of some researchers, treatment delays for schizophrenia may not worsen brain deficits associated with the mental disorder.