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. Past Impressions

    New research sheds light on the century-old concept of transference, a mental process in which people re-experience past relationships in new interactions.

  2. Take a Number: Kids show math insights without instruction

    Kindergartners can solve relatively complex addition and subtraction problems if allowed to use their intuitive grasp of approximate quantities rather than being required to calculate exact solutions.

  3. Face Talk: Babies see their way to language insights

    Babies 4 to 6 months old can distinguish between two languages solely by watching a speaker's face, without hearing sound.

  4. Synesthesia tied to brain connections

    People who see specific colors when looking at particular letters possess an unusually large number of connections in brain areas that influence word and color perception.

  5. Anthropology

    When female chimps become baby killers

    Although long thought to be rare, instances in which female chimps band together to kill other females' infants occur fairly regularly under certain circumstances.

  6. Fly Moves: Insects buzz about in organized abandon

    Fruit flies display a penchant for spontaneous behavior that represents an evolutionary building block of voluntary choice, also known as free will, a controversial study suggests.

  7. Alzheimer’s clues from thin brains

    Children and teens who possess a gene variant linked to Alzheimer's disease have substantially thinner neural tissue in a key brain structure than their peers do.

  8. No Place Like Om: Meditation training puts oomph into attention

    Intensive meditation training boosts a person's control over attention and expands a person's ability to notice rapidly presented items.

  9. Automatic Networking: Brain systems charge up in unconscious monkeys

    Even when monkeys are anesthetized, their brains show patterns of electrical activity similar to those exhibited during wakeful activity.

  10. Anthropology

    Kin play limited role in chimp cooperation

    Male chimps collaborate in a variety of ways and, like people, often find partners outside of their immediate families for cooperative ventures.

  11. Sleep on It: Time delay plus slumber equals memory boost

    Sleep revs up a person's ability to discern connections among pieces of information encountered in novel situations.

  12. Anthropology

    Children of Prehistory

    Accumulating evidence suggests that children and teenagers produced much prehistoric cave art and perhaps left behind many fledgling attempts at stone-tool making as well.