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

    Ancient people arrived in Sumatra’s rainforests more than 60,000 years ago

    Humans reached Indonesia not long after leaving Africa.

  2. Psychology

    A look at Rwanda’s genocide helps explain why ordinary people kill their neighbors

    New research on the 1994 Rwanda genocide overturns assumptions about why people participate in genocide. A sense of duty, not blind obedience, drives many perpetrators.

  3. Anthropology

    Sacrificed dog remains feed tales of Bronze Age ‘wolf-men’ warriors

    Canine remnants of a possible Bronze Age ceremony inspire debate.

  4. Archaeology

    Copper in Ötzi the Iceman’s ax came from surprisingly far away

    Copper for the ancient Iceman’s blade traveled about 500 kilometers to his northern Italian home region.

  5. Anthropology

    Fossil tooth pushes back record of mysterious Neandertal relative

    A Denisovan child’s fossil tooth dates to at least 100,000 years ago, researchers say.

  6. Anthropology

    Carved human skulls found at ancient worship center in Turkey

    Visitors to an ancient ritual site may have carved human skulls as part of ancestor worship.

  7. Archaeology

    Sound-reflecting shelters inspired ancient rock artists

    Ancient Europeans sought rock art sites where sounds carried.

  8. Psychology

    African farmers’ kids conquer the marshmallow test

    Nso farmers in Cameroon groom kids for self-control that Western peers often lack.

  9. Anthropology

    Oldest known Homo sapiens fossils come from northern Africa, studies claim

    Moroccan fossils proposed as oldest known H. sapiens, from around 300,000 years ago.

  10. Archaeology

    Peru’s plenty brought ancient human migration to a crawl

    Ancient Americans reached Peru 15,000 years ago and stayed put, excavations suggest.

  11. Archaeology

    Tool sharpens focus on Stone Age networking in the Middle East

    Stone Age tool’s route to Syrian site covered at least 700 kilometers.

  12. Anthropology

    European fossils may belong to earliest known hominid

    With new analyses of Graecopithecus fossils from Greece and Bulgaria, researchers argue for possible hominid origins in Europe, not Africa.