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. Music, language may meet in the brain

    Brain areas considered crucial for understanding language may also play an important role in music perception.

  2. Anthropology

    Peru Holds Oldest New World City

    Construction of massive ceremonial buildings and residential areas at a Peruvian site began 4,000 years ago, making it the earliest known city in the Americas.

  3. Back from the Brink

    Psychological and supportive programs for schizophrenia sufferers, often used in combination with antipsychotic drugs, are attracting increasing research interest in the United States and Europe.

  4. Anthropology

    Human ancestors made ancient entry to Java

    Layers of hardened volcanic ash on the Indonesian island of Java have yielded evidence that Homo erectus reached eastern Asia by 1.5 million years ago and remained there until about 1 million years ago.

  5. Anthropology

    . . . and then takes some lumps

    The skeletal diversity that many scientists use to divide up fossil species in our evolutionary past masks a genetic unity that actually encompassed relatively few species, contend researchers in an opposing camp.

  6. Anthropology

    Our family tree does the splits…

    Large-scale changes in climate and habitats may have sparked the evolution of many new animal species in Africa beginning 7 million to 5 million years ago, including a string of new species in the human evolutionary family.

  7. Viruses may play a part in schizophrenia

    Scientists have for the first time linked high levels of retroviral activity in the central nervous system to some cases of schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder.

  8. Anthropology

    Early Brazilians Unveil African Look

    Prehistoric human skulls found in Brazil share some traits with modern Africans, leading a Brazilian scientist to theorize that Africans rather than Asians first arrived in the Americas sometime before 11,000 years ago.

  9. Dyslexia gets a break in Italy

    Although dyslexia involves a common disruption of reading-related brain activity, the reading performance of people with dyslexia appears to improve if they use a language that has consistent spelling rules.

  10. Depression linked to heart deaths

    In a community sample, people suffering from moderate to severe depression exhibited an elevated death rate from heart disease over a 4-year study period, even if they had no discernable heart disease to begin with.

  11. Anthropology

    Fossil Skull Diversifies Family Tree

    A 3.5-million-year-old skull found in Kenya represents a group of species in the human evolutionary family that evolved separately from australopithecines such as Lucy's kind in Ethiopia.

  12. Repression tries for experimental comeback

    A laboratory experiment finds that people have difficulty remembering words that they have intentionally tried to forget, providing support for Sigmund Freud's controversial concept of repression.