All Stories by Bruce Bower
- Psychology
Simpleminded Voters
An innovative research technique has led researchers to conclude that well-informed voters often use simple rules of thumb to sift through mountains of campaign information and pick the candidate who best reflects their own political views.
- Humans
Worth the cooties
Boys who attend preschool classes with a majority of girls do better developmentally than other boys.
- 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.
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Lost and found
Former child soldiers in Africa often adjust well to community life if they receive group rehabilitation and community acceptance, studies indicate
