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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Humans
The story of humans’ origins got a revision in 2017
Human evolution may have involved the gradual assembly of scattered skeletal traits, fossils of Homo naledi and other species show.
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Anthropology
Strong-armed women helped power Europe’s ancient farming revolution
Intensive manual labor gave ancient farm women arms that female rowers today would envy.
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Archaeology
Hidden hoard hints at how ancient elites protected the family treasures
A secret stash at an ancient site in Israel called Megiddo illuminates the Iron Age practice of hoarding wealth.
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Archaeology
Skeletons could provide clues to who wrote or protected the Dead Sea Scrolls
Skeletons suggest a group of celibate men inhabited Dead Sea Scrolls site.
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Archaeology
How Asian nomadic herders built new Bronze Age cultures
Ancient steppe herders traveled into Europe and Asia, leaving their molecular mark and building Bronze Age cultures.
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Anthropology
Ancient European farmers and foragers hooked up big time
Interbreeding escalated in regionally distinct ways across Neolithic Europe.
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Anthropology
Crocs take a bite out of claims of ancient stone-tool use
Reptiles with big bites complicate claims of Stone Age butchery.
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Animals
No more than 800 orangutans from this newly identified species remain
Endangered population of orangutans is the oldest surviving red ape lineage, a new study finds.
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Anthropology
Scientists battle over whether violence has declined over time
People are no more violent in small-scale societies than in states, researchers contend.
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Science & Society
Economics Nobel nudges behavioral economist into the limelight
Behavioral economist Richard Thaler started influential investigations of behavioral economics, which earned him the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
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Archaeology
Europe’s Stone Age fishers used beeswax to make a point
Late Stone Age Europeans made spears with beeswax adhesive.
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Genetics
Ancient humans avoided inbreeding by networking
Ancient DNA expands foragers’ social, mating networks.