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. Dementia may travel lonely road in elderly

    Social isolation may promote the development of Alzheimer's disease and other brain ailments among elderly people.

  2. Archaeology

    Early New World Settlers Rise in East

    New evidence supports the view that people occupied a site in coastal Virginia at least 15,000 years ago.

  3. Pushing the Mood Swings

    Social and psychological forces sway the course of manic depression.

  4. Cooperative strangers turn a mutual profit

    In social exchanges, monkeys and people often appear to act according to the principle that "one good turn deserves another."

  5. Anthropology

    Goat busters track domestication

    People began to manage herds of wild goats at least 10,000 years ago in western Iran.

  6. Anthropology

    Lucy on the ground with knuckles

    Some early human ancestors appear to have walked on all fours using their knuckles, much as chimpanzees do.

  7. Paleontology

    Salvaged DNA adds to Neandertals’ mystique

    Researchers who isolated a sample of Neandertal mitochondrial DNA say that it provides no evidence that Neandertals contributed to modern human evolution.

  8. Good Readers May Get Perceptual Lift

    The ability to hear and see rapidly changing stimuli may underlie reading skills, raising the possibility of new approaches to reading instruction.

  9. Brain cells work together to pay attention

    Cells in the brain's cortex may coordinate their electrical activity as attention shifts from visual to tactile information.

  10. Tough talk for depressed husbands

    Positive comments directed by depressed men to their wives often elicit negative responses from the women, a conversational style that may contribute to the men's mood problems.

  11. Listen to the shapes

    People use still-unspecified acoustic cues to discern the shapes of hidden, vibrating plates.

  12. Archaeology

    Ancient Asian Tools Crossed the Line

    Excavations in China yield surprising finds of 800,000-year-old stone hand axes.