All Stories by Bruce Bower
- Anthropology
Numbers beyond words
New research with Amazonian villagers suggests that their language lacks number words but that they still comprehend precise quantities of objects.
- Archaeology
Green reapers
Agriculture's rise sparked widespread use of green stone beads as fertility charms and as protection against supernatural forces, scientists propose.
- Humans
Symbolic snacks
Capuchin monkeys can reason with tokens as they do with different foods, demonstrating a basic capacity for thinking symbolically.
- Archaeology
Acrobat’s last tumble
Sacrificial offerings in an ancient Mesopotamian building included a beheaded acrobat, a new skeletal analysis suggests.
- Humans
Fostering gains
New studies indicate that abused and neglected kids benefit from living with relatives and from high-quality foster care services.
- Archaeology
Domain of the dead
Researchers say that Stonehenge functioned as the largest cemetery of its time.
- Anthropology
They’re fake, Indy!
Scientists find that two rock crystal skulls often attributed to pre-Columbian societies are really modern phonies.
- Humans
Butting out together
Cigarette smokers who know one another tend to kick the habit all at once, highlighting the importance of social forces in smoking-cessation treatment.
- Animals
Wild innovation
Researchers have published a rare description of a wild chimpanzee devising and modifying a novel form of tool use.
-
Lost and found
Former child soldiers in Africa often adjust well to community life if they receive group rehabilitation and community acceptance, studies indicate
- Humans
Slowpoke settlers
Evidence suggests New World settlers slowly moved down the Pacific Coast and inhabited southern Chile by 14,000 years ago.
- Humans
Jaw breaker
An ancient human relative that lived more than 1 million years ago possessed huge jaws and teeth suited to eating hard foods but actually preferred fruits and other soft items, a new study finds.
