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. SSRI use declines, youth suicides rise

    In the United States and the Netherlands, youth suicides have increased as the number of antidepressant prescriptions for children and teenagers has fallen, raising concerns that regulatory warnings about these drugs have backfired.

  2. Archaeology

    Ancient city grew from outside in

    A 6,000-year-old city in what's now northeastern Syria developed when initially independent settlements expanded and merged, unlike other nearby cities that grew from a core outward.

  3. Consciousness in the Raw

    Observations of children born without most of the brain's outer layer, or cortex, and evidence from animal studies suggest that a basic form of consciousness may arise from the brain stem alone.

  4. Anthropology

    Men’s fertile role in evolving long lives

    The ability of men 55 and older to father children may have had evolutionary effects that caused both sexes to develop longer lifespans.

  5. Bipolar Express: Mental ailment expands rapidly among youth

    Diagnosis of bipolar disorder in kids and teenagers has dramatically increased since 1994, raising concerns that this severe mood disorder is being overdiagnosed.

  6. No-Fight Zones: School programs reduce violence in all grades

    A variety of school-based programs succeed in reducing students' violent and disruptive behavior.

  7. Believers gain no health advantage

    Strong religious beliefs or practices don't appear to benefit depressed or socially isolated heart attack survivors.

  8. Groomed for Trouble: Mice yield obsessive-compulsive insights

    Mice lacking a gene that makes a certain brain protein display behaviors much like those of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, a poorly understood psychiatric ailment.

  9. Archaeology

    Map yields new view of ancient city

    A new map shows that Angkor, the world's largest preindustrial city, covered more than 1,000 square kilometers of what is now Cambodia and possessed an elaborate canal system.

  10. Depression Defense: Sick elderly get mood aid from home treatment

    Instructional therapy to promote coping strategies helps elderly people with incipient blindness ward off depression—at least in the short run.

  11. Anthropology

    Red-Ape Stroll

    Wild orangutans regularly walk upright through the trees, raising the controversial possibility that the two-legged stance is not unique to hominids.

  12. Weighting for Friends: Obesity spreads in social networks

    Obesity spreads as a social contagion through networks of friends and relatives, apparently because associating with overweight people encourages a laxer attitude toward weight gain.