![Bruce Bower](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/b_bower.jpg?resize=214%2C214&ssl=1)
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.
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All Stories by Bruce Bower
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Baby Facial: Infants monkey with face recognition
Between ages 6 months and 9 months, babies apparently lose the ability to discriminate between the faces of individuals in different animal species and start to develop an expertise in discerning human faces.
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In depression, the placebo also rises
In a small group of depressed patients, those whose condition improved after taking placebo pills for 6 weeks displayed many of the same brain changes observed in people who benefited from an antidepressant drug.
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Boys take a tumble
A long-term study of children from grades 1 through 12 finds a disturbing tendency for boys to report much larger declines in appraisals of their academic abilities than do girls.
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All Cried Out: Major depression puts lid on tears
A new study suggests that depressed individuals cry no more often in response to a sad situation than nondepressed people do.
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Brain keeps tabs on arbitrary patterns
Several parts of the frontal brain cooperatively identify apparent regularities in random sequences of events and detect breaks in those patterns.
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The Social Net
New studies explore the nature of social interactions on the Internet, from online corporate work groups to white supremacist chat rooms.
- Anthropology
Attack of the Ancestor: Neandertals took a stab at violent assaults
The pieced-together fragments of a 36,000-year-old Neandertal skull reveal a bony scar caused by a blow from a sharp tool or weapon.
- Paleontology
Older Ancestors: Primate origins age in new analysis
A controversial new statistical model concludes that the common ancestor of primates lived 81.5 million years ago, about 16 million years earlier than many paleontologists have estimated.
- Anthropology
The DNA Divide: Chimps, people differ in brain’s gene activity
The distinctive looks and thinking styles of people and chimpanzees derive from the contrasting productivities of their similar DNA sequences.
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Night Patrol for Tired Cops: Police lose sleep over workday hassles
A large proportion of big-city police officers suffers from insomnia and other serious sleep problems that stem from chronic work stress.
- Archaeology
New World hunters get a reprieve
New radiocarbon evidence indicates that, beginning around 11,000 years ago, human hunters contributed to North American mammal extinctions that had already been triggered by pronounced climate shifts.
- Archaeology
Stone Age Siberians move up in time
Siberian sites previously thought to have been bases for early human excursions into North America may only date to about 11,300 years ago, when people have traditionally been assumed to have first reached Alaska.