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. Disabilities develop as family affair

    A long-term study uncovered family factors that influence the mental development of children with biologically based disabilities, as well as evidence of increasing stress among parents as their kids with disabilities approach adolescence.

  2. Moms’ touch gives kids social push

    Premature babies frequently touched in soothing ways by their mothers exhibited much better social and emotional growth as toddlers than did peers who had been exposed to harsh forms of maternal touching.

  3. Maternal care may leave brain legacy

    Rat experiments indicate that mothers' licking and grooming of offspring induces biological changes in female pups that in turn regulate their maternal behavior as adults.

  4. Female chimps don’t stray in mate search

    Genetic testing of chimpanzees living in western Africa indicates that females usually seek mates within their home communities, a finding that contradicts some previous reports.

  5. Plight of the Untouchables

    Stigma's largely unexplored effects on the health of people sufering from ailments ranging from AIDS to schizophrenia attracted much interest at a recent conference.

  6. Paleontology

    Lemurs reveal clues to ancient Asian roots

    A diminutive lemur species inhabited what is now central Pakistan about 30 million years ago, a new fossil find suggests.

  7. Sound learning may hinge on cue contrasts

    Training yields much more improvement in the ability to discriminate subtle differences in the loudness of sounds entering the right and left ears than in the timing of sounds arriving in each ear, a finding with implications for treating some speech and language disorders.

  8. Drunk drivers tow mental load

    Individuals convicted of drunk driving often have a history of not only alcohol but also illicit drug abuse and other psychiatric disorders.

  9. Tracking down bodies in the brain

    A new report that a specific brain region orchestrates the recognition of human bodies and body parts stirs up a scientific debate over the neural workings of perception.

  10. Gene change speaks to language malady

    Researchers have identified a genetic mutation that may lie at the root of a severe speech and language disorder observed across four generations of a British family.

  11. Anthropology

    Humans in eastern Asia show ancient roots

    Human ancestors lived in northeastern Asia about 1.36 million years ago, making it the oldest confirmed occupation site in eastern Asia.

  12. Joined at the Senses

    As evidence accumulates for the existence of brain cells that handle many types of sensory information, some scientists challenge the popular notion that perception is grounded in five separate senses.