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. Archaeology

    The biblical warrior Goliath may not have been so giant after all

    Archaeological finds suggest the width of the walls of Goliath’s home city were used to metaphorically represent the Old Testament figure’s height.

  2. Anthropology

    Ardi and her discoverers shake up hominid evolution in ‘Fossil Men’

    A new book covers the big personalities, field exploits and scientific clashes behind the discovery of the hominid skeleton nicknamed Ardi.

  3. Anthropology

    Female big-game hunters may have been surprisingly common in the ancient Americas

    A Peruvian burial that indicates that women speared large prey as early as 9,000 years ago sheds new light on gender roles of ancient hunter-gatherers.

  4. Psychology

    ‘Deaths of despair’ are rising. It’s time to define despair

    A sense of defeat, not mental ailments, may be derailing the lives of less-educated people in the United States.

  5. Anthropology

    The first Denisovan DNA outside Siberia unveils a long stint on the roof of the world

    Genetic evidence puts Denisovans, humankind’s now-extinct cousins, on the Tibetan Plateau from 100,000 to at least 60,000 years ago.

  6. Anthropology

    Mummified llamas yield new insights into Inca ritual sacrifices

    Bound and decorated llamas, found at an Inca site in southern Peru, may have been buried alive as part of events in annexed territories.

  7. Anthropology

    Homo erectus, not humans, may have invented the barbed bone point

    Carved artifacts excavated from Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge suggest now-extinct hominids made barbed bone points long before humans did, researchers say.

  8. Anthropology

    How environmental changes may have helped make ancient humans more adaptable

    An East African sediment core unveils ecological changes underlying a key Stone Age transition.

  9. Anthropology

    Neandertal babies had stocky chests like their parents

    Our evolutionary relatives may have inherited short, deep rib cages from their ancient ancestors.

  10. Anthropology

    Seven footprints may be the oldest evidence of humans on the Arabian Peninsula

    In what’s now desert, people and other animals stopped to drink at a lake more than 100,000 years ago, a new study suggests.

  11. Science & Society

    ‘The Origins of You’ explores how kids develop into their adult selves

    A new book describes the interplay of nature and nurture as children, at least in Western societies, grow up.

  12. Humans

    Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture

    An earthwork buried under a cattle ranch may be part of one of the largest Native American settlements ever established north of Mexico.