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

    Elongated heads were a mark of elite status in an ancient Peruvian society

    Elites in ancient Peruvian society developed a signature, stretched-out head shape over several centuries.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Let your kids help you, and other parenting tips from traditional societies

    Hunter-gatherers and villagers have some parenting tips for modern moms and dads.

  3. Psychology

    When it’s playtime, many kids prefer reality over fantasy

    Given a choice between fantasy play and doing the things that adults do, children prefer reality-based tasks, studies suggest.

  4. Anthropology

    Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record

    Some unusual finds from thousands of years ago are actually toys and children’s attempts at mimicking adult craftwork.

  5. Archaeology

    Sharp stones found in India signal surprisingly early toolmaking advances

    Toolmaking revolution reached what’s now India before Homo sapiens did, a new study suggests.

  6. Anthropology

    An ancient jaw pushes humans’ African departure back in time

    If an ancient jaw found in an Israeli cave belongs to Homo sapiens, the humans left Africa tens of thousands of years earlier than we thought.

  7. Anthropology

    Human brains rounded into shape over 200,000 years or more

    Ancient humans’ brains slowly but surely became round, scientists say.

  8. Anthropology

    ‘First Face of America’ explores how humans reached the New World

    New documentary shows how an ancient teen and an infant have illuminated scientists’ understanding of the peopling of the Americas.

  9. Anthropology

    Hunter-gatherer lifestyle could help explain superior ability to ID smells

    Hunter-gatherers in the forests of the Malay Peninsula prove more adept at naming smells than their rice-farming neighbors, possibly because of their foraging culture.

  10. Anthropology

    DNA solves the mystery of how these mummies were related

    Two ancient Egyptian mummies known as the Two Brothers had the same mother, but different dads.

  11. Anthropology

    ‘Laid-back’ bonobos take a shine to belligerents

    Unlike people, these apes gravitate toward those who are unhelpful.

  12. Archaeology

    How the Dead Sea Scrolls survived a war in the 1960s

    50 years after the Dead Sea Scrolls survived a war, another possible scroll cave offered tantalizing new clues.