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. Shop Until You Can’t Stop: Compulsive buying affects both men and women

    A national telephone survey indicates that nearly 6 percent of adults find themselves unable to resist frequent shopping binges that leave them saddled with debt, anxiety, and depression.

  2. Montessori Learning Aid: Alternative school shows impact on poor children

    An alternative teaching program known as the Montessori method gave an academic and social boost to Milwaukee youngsters that did not occur in their peers attending other schools.

  3. Chemical Enlightenment

    After a 40-year hiatus, research on the psychedelic drug psilocybin indicates that it often triggers mystical and spiritual experiences in ordinary people, at least temporarily changing their lives for the better.

  4. Anthropology

    Evolution’s Child: Fossil puts youthful twist on Lucy’s kind

    Researchers have announced the discovery of the oldest and most complete fossil child in our evolutionary family yet found.

  5. Mood disorder cuts work performance

    A national survey finds that people with bipolar disorder lose even more workdays each year as a result of their illness than do workers with major depression.

  6. Anthropology

    Neandertal debate goes south

    A controversial report concludes that Neandertals lived on southwestern Europe's Iberian coast until 24,000 years ago, sharing the area for several thousand years with modern humans before dying out.

  7. Anthropology

    Scripted Stone: Ancient block may bear Americas’ oldest writing

    A slab of stone found by road builders in southern Mexico may contain the oldest known writing in the Americas, although some scientists regard the nearly 3,000-year-old inscriptions cautiously.

  8. Copycat Monkeys: Macaque babies ape adults’ facial feats

    Scientists for the first time have established that baby monkeys, shortly after birth, imitate facial movements made by people and adult monkeys.

  9. Sleep disorder tied to brain ills in kids

    Researchers have linked a severe form of sleep apnea in children to brain irregularities that may contribute to learning problems.

  10. Katrina’s Two-Sided Impact: Survey finds disorders, resilience after tragedy

    In the year after surviving Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast residents experienced a surge in serious mental disorders combined with elements of personal growth and emotional resilience.

  11. Drug could be depression buster

    Preliminary evidence indicates that a single dose of a drug called ketamine rapidly quells symptoms of major depression for up to 1 week in patients who don't benefit from standard antidepressant medications.

  12. Anthropology

    Chimps spread out their tools

    Chimpanzees use stones to crack nuts in an African region far from where that behavior was thought to be relegated.