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. Net Heads

    With a new arsenal of mathematical approaches, neuroscientists are unraveling the surprisingly few steps messages take to traverse the vast networks of brain cells underlying thought and perception.

  2. Online Victims: Internet behaviors make targets of some kids

    A national telephone survey indicates that one in five kids, ages 10 to 17, encountered instances of unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment online in the past year.

  3. Well-Tooled Primates

    People may have leaned on ancient primate-brain capacities to begin making stone tools by 2.5 million years ago, a transition that possibly spurred the development of language and other higher mental faculties.

  4. Archaeology

    Suburb of Stonehenge: Ritual village found near famed rock site

    Excavations at a 4,600-year-old village in southern England indicate that it was occupied by the builders of nearby Stonehenge and hosted feasts where people assembled before transporting the dead to the huge circle of stones, which served as an ancestor memorial.

  5. Child abuse heralds adult inflammation

    A long-term study in New Zealand indicates that child abuse leads to a disruption of part of the stress response in adulthood that has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and chronic lung disease.

  6. Mind over Muscle: Placebo boosts health benefits of exercise

    The physical rewards of exercise derive not just from muscular exertion but also from a person's mind-set about exercise.

  7. Aging vets take stress disorder to heart

    Veterans grappling for decades with post-traumatic stress disorder have a greater risk of developing and dying from heart disease than do their peers who don't suffer from the stress ailment.

  8. Starved for Assistance: Coercion finds a place in the treatment of two eating disorders

    Attempts by family, friends, and others to coerce people with serious eating disorders into getting mental-health care provide a valuable jump-start to treatment.

  9. Message Songs: Wild gibbons warble with a simple syntax

    Gibbons, a line of apes in southeastern Asia, rearrange their songs in order to communicate with one another.

  10. Aging Lessons: Training gives elderly practical assistance

    Sessions aimed at improving memory, reasoning, or visual concentration in healthy elderly people yield notable cognitive returns, even 5 years later, a long-term study suggests. The training largely protected the participants from age-related declines in the ability to perform everyday tasks such as preparing meals, doing housework, and managing money. A handful of booster sessions […]

  11. Sniffle-Busting Personalities: Positive mood guards against getting colds

    People with generally positive outlooks show greater resistance to developing colds than do individuals who rarely revel in upbeat feelings.

  12. Anthropology

    Neandertals’ tough Stone Age lives

    Neandertals that 43,000 years ago inhabited what's now northern Spain faced periodic food shortages and possibly resorted to cannibalism to survive.