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. Psychology

    How the strange idea of ‘statistical significance’ was born

    A mathematical ritual known as null hypothesis significance testing has led researchers astray since the 1950s.

  2. Genetics

    An Indigenous people in the Philippines have the most Denisovan DNA

    Genetic comparisons crown the Indigenous Ayta Magbukon people as having the most DNA, 5 percent, from the mysterious ancient hominids.

  3. Psychology

    Psychology has struggled for a century to make sense of the mind

    Research into what makes us tick has been messy and contentious, but has led to intriguing insights.

  4. Anthropology

    A skeleton from Peru vies for the title of oldest known shark attack victim

    The 6,000-year-old remains of a teen with a missing leg and tell-tale bite marks came to light after news of a 3,000-year-old victim in Japan surfaced.

  5. Anthropology

    A partial skeleton reveals the world’s oldest known shark attack

    An ancient shark bite victim died quickly, before his body was recovered and buried, a new study finds.

  6. Anthropology

    ‘Dragon Man’ skull may help oust Neandertals as our closest ancient relative

    A Chinese fossil has been classified as a new Homo species that lived more than 146,000 years ago, but not all scientists are convinced.

  7. Anthropology

    Israeli fossil finds reveal a new hominid group, Nesher Ramla Homo

    Discoveries reveal a new Stone Age population that had close ties to Homo sapiens at least 120,000 years ago, complicating the human family tree.

  8. Archaeology

    New clues suggest people reached the Americas around 30,000 years ago

    Ancient rabbit bones from a Mexican rock-shelter point to humans arriving on the continent as much as 10,000 years earlier than often assumed.

  9. Anthropology

    Hunter-gatherers first launched violent raids at least 13,400 years ago

    Skeletons from an ancient African cemetery bear the oldest known signs of small-scale warfare.

  10. Archaeology

    The oldest known tattoo tools were found at an ancient Tennessee site

    Sharpened turkey leg bones may have served as tattoo needles between 5,520 and 3,620 years ago, at least a millennium earlier than previously thought.

  11. Anthropology

    A child’s 78,000-year-old grave marks Africa’s oldest known human burial

    Cave excavation of a youngster’s grave pushes back the date of the first human burial identified in the continent by at least a few thousand years.

  12. Anthropology

    Little Foot’s shoulders hint at how a human-chimp common ancestor climbed

    The shape of the 3.67-million-year-old hominid’s shoulder blades suggests it had a gorilla-like ability to climb trees.