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

    Script Delivery: New World writing takes disputed turn

    Researchers announced, to considerable controversy, that inscriptions found on artifacts at an Olmec site in southeastern Mexico represented the earliest known writing system in the Americas.

  2. Cancer patients accentuate the positive

    Group therapy that promotes positive types of personal growth in breast cancer patients may also result in beneficial physiological changes.

  3. Lost That Smoking Feeling: Emotions sputter as cigarette motivator

    The first detailed effort to monitor the reactions of cigarette smokers as they carry out their daily activities finds that they feel neither better nor worse than at times when they don't begin smoking.

  4. Religious commitment linked to longer life

    A statistical analysis of 42 studies revealed that people who report heavy involvement in religious activities tend to have better physical health and live longer than those who don't.

  5. Emotional gain after verbal loss

    Brain-damaged people who have lost much of their ability to understand spoken sentences are better than healthy folks at picking up emotions that others are trying to conceal.

  6. Extended test for bipolar drugs

    A long-term study finds some advantages for patients with manic-depressive illness taking an anticonvulsant drug, although placebos also have positive effects on this ailment.

  7. Anthropology

    Care-Worn Fossils

    A nearly toothless fossil jaw found in France has reignited scientific debate over whether the skeletal remains of physically disabled individuals show that our Stone Age ancestors provided life-saving care to the ill and infirm.

  8. Building Blocks of Talk

    When babies babble, they may say a lot about speech.

  9. Attachment disorder draws closer look

    A substantial minority of children exposed to severe deprivation in institutions as infants can't form close relationships, a condition for which there is no established treatment.

  10. Thoughtful Lessons: Training may enhance intellect in elderly

    The largest study of its kind finds that a brief training course in memory, reasoning, or visual concentration boosts performance on laboratory tests of these cognitive skills among physically healthy elderly people.

  11. Memory grows up in 1-year-olds

    As children enter the second year of life, they exhibit a marked improvement in recalling simple events after a 4-month delay, perhaps reflecting the growth of memory-related brain areas.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Schizophrenia spurs imaging network

    Thanks to a federal grant, a team of researchers will establish a national database of brain images that will allow for expanded investigations of the neural basis of schizophrenia.