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. Anthropology

    Stone Age Genetics: Ancient DNA enters humanity’s heritage

    Genetic material extracted from the bones of European Stone Age Homo sapiens, sometimes called Cro-Magnons, bolsters the theory that people evolved independently of Neandertals.

  2. Harvesting Intelligence: IQ gains may reach rural Kenya’s kids

    Researchers say they've uncovered a dramatic IQ increase among Kenyan children over a recent 14-year period that may be due to environmental factors such as better nutrition and a greater parental emphasis on schooling.

  3. Anthropology

    Ancestral split in Africa, China

    Environmental conditions may have encouraged Homo erectus to develop a level of social and tool-making complexity in Africa that the same species did not achieve in China.

  4. Anthropology

    Wari skulls create trophy-head mystery

    A 1,000-year-old Peruvian site has yielded the remains of decapitated human heads that were used as ritual trophies but, to the researchers surprise, did not come from enemy warriors.

  5. Anthropology

    Jaw-dropping find emerges from Stone Age cave

    A nearly complete lower jaw discovered in a Romanian cave last year and dating to around 35,000 years ago may represent the oldest known example of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Europe.

  6. Paleontology

    First Family’s last stand

    New evidence indicates that about 3.2 million years ago, at least 17 Australopithecus afarensis individuals were killed at the same time by large predators at an eastern African site.

  7. Anthropology

    Ancestral Bushwhack: Hominid tree gets trimmed twice

    In separate presentations at scientific meetings, two anthropologists challenged the influential view that the human evolutionary family has contained as many as 20 different fossil species.

  8. Nausea drug may aid alcoholism treatment

    A drug that lowers the activity of serotonin and other chemical messengers in the brain may boost the effectiveness of psychological treatments for a severe form of alcoholism.

  9. Paleontology

    Ancestors Go South

    A group of new and previously excavated fossils in South Africa represents 4-million-year-old members of the human evolutionary family, according to an analysis of the sediment that covered the finds.

  10. Study explores abortion’s mental aftermath

    A majority of women report no increase in psychological problems after having an abortion, although nearly one in five express dissatisfaction and regret 2 years later about their decision.

  11. Neural Recall: Brain area may support fact and event memory

    A brain structure called the hippocampus may crucially influence memory for both factual information and personally experienced events.

  12. Left brain hammers out tool use

    Structures in the brain's left hemisphere coordinate the ability to use familiar tools such as hammers and saws.