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. Till IL-6 Do Us Part: Elderly caregivers show harmful immune effect

    Elderly people caring for their incapacitated spouses experienced dramatic average increases in the blood concentration of a protein involved in immune regulation, a trend that puts them at risk for a variety of serious illnesses.

  2. Anthropology

    The Forager King

    A celebrated anthropologist surprises and inspires his biographer.

  3. Archaeology

    Ancient Site Holds Cannibalism Clues

    An 800-year-old Anasazi site in Colorado yields contested evidence of cannibalism.

  4. Anthropology

    New Guinea Went Bananas: Agriculture’s roots get a South Pacific twist

    Inhabitants of New Guinea began to cultivate bananas in large quantities nearly 7,000 years ago, an agricultural practice that spread to Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific region.

  5. Brain perks up to uncertain threats

    The brain shows particular sensitivity to facial expressions that convey vague threats.

  6. Strep infection sets off tics in some kids

    Some children may have a genetic susceptibility to developing obsessive-compulsive disorder and tic ailments after a streptococcal infection.

  7. Anthropology

    African Legacy: Fossils plug gap in human origins

    Scientists who discovered three partial Homo sapiens skulls in Ethiopia that date to nearly 160,000 years ago say that the finds document humanity's evolution in Africa, independently of European Neandertals.

  8. Toddlers ride rail to tool use

    Toddlers' ability to modify their use of a handrail as they walk across a narrow bridge represents an early example of tool use, according to two psychologists.

  9. Babble Rousers: Babies find their voice when given social push

    Eight-month-old infants utter more complex, speechlike sounds when their mothers encourage them with well-timed touches and smiles rather than with words offered as models to imitate.

  10. Findings puncture self-esteem claims

    People who report high levels of self-esteem experience few of the beneficial effects often assumed to flow from this attitude.

  11. Anthropology

    Humanity’s pedestal lowered again?

    A new genetic study reaches the controversial conclusion that chimpanzees belong to the genus Homo, just as people do.

  12. Scripted Brains: Learning to read evokes hemispheric trade-off

    From childhood through adolesence, the process of learning to read involves an amplification of specific types of left-brain activity and a dampening of right-brain responses, a new brain-imaging study finds.