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

    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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. Gestures help words become memorable

    Relevant hand gestures make a speaker's words more memorable to listeners, whereas inappropriate hand gestures undermine recall for what was previously said.

  8. Hypnotic hues in the brain

    Hypnosis uniquely colors the activity of brain areas involved in visual perception, supporting the view that hypnotized people enter a distinct psychological state rather than only play a role designed to please the hypnotist.

  9. Babies posture to learn

    Infants make better action-oriented decisions when they adopt a familiar posture, such as sitting upright, instead of an unfamiliar one, such as crawling.

  10. Words Get in the Way

    New studies explore people's tendency to have trouble recalling faces or other hard-to-describe perceptions after giving verbal accounts of them, with an eye toward improving police interviewing techniques with crime eyewitnesses.

  11. Depression may play a role in stroke risk

    Feelings of hopelessness and other signs of major depression markedly raise a person's likelihood of suffering a stroke.

  12. Anthropology

    Cannibalism’s DNA Trail: Gene may signal ancient prion-disease outbreaks

    Cannibalism among prehistoric humans may have left lasting genetic marks.