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

    A Denisovan girl’s fossil tooth may have been unearthed in Laos

    A molar adds to suspicions that mysterious hominids called Denisovans inhabited Southeast Asia's tropical forests.

  2. Archaeology

    A special brew may have calmed Inca children headed for sacrifice

    The mummified remains contained a substance that may reduce anxiety and is found in ayahuasca, a psychedelic ceremonial liquid still drunk today.

  3. Archaeology

    Ancient ‘smellscapes’ are wafting out of artifacts and old texts

    In studying and reviving long-ago scents, archaeologists aim to understand how people experienced, and interpreted, their worlds through smell.

  4. Anthropology

    How ancient, recurring climate changes may have shaped human evolution

    Climate changes drove where Homo species lived over the last 2 million years, with a disputed ancestor giving rise to H. sapiens, a new study claims.

  5. Anthropology

    North America’s oldest skull surgery dates to at least 3,000 years ago

    Bone regrowth suggests the man, who lived in what’s now Alabama, survived a procedure to treat brain swelling by scraping a hole out of his forehead.

  6. Anthropology

    Social mingling shapes how orangutans issue warning calls

    The new findings hint at how modern language may have taken root in sparse communities of ancient apes and humans.

  7. Archaeology

    Ancient seafarers built the Mediterranean’s largest known sacred pool

    The Olympic-sized pool, once thought to be an artificial inner harbor, helped Phoenicians track the stars and their gods, excavations reveal.

  8. Archaeology

    Ancient Homo sapiens took a talent for cultural creativity from Africa to Asia

    Excavations at two sites continents apart show that Stone Age hominids got culturally inventive starting nearly 100,000 years ago.

  9. Genetics

    Africa’s oldest human DNA helps unveil an ancient population shift

    Long-distance mate seekers started staying closer to home about 20,000 years ago.

  10. Archaeology

    The world’s oldest pants stitched together cultures from across Asia

    A re-creation of a 3,000-year-old horseman’s trousers helped scientists unravel its complex origins.

  11. Archaeology

    A technique borrowed from ecology hints at hundreds of lost medieval legends

    An ecology-based statistical approach may provide a storybook ending for efforts to gauge ancient cultural diversity.

  12. Archaeology

    Homo sapiens may have reached Europe 10,000 years earlier than previously thought

    Archaeological finds in an ancient French rock-shelter suggest migrations to the continent started long before Neandertals died out.