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. Archaeology

    Excavations show hunter-gatherers lived in the Amazon more than 10,000 years ago

    Early foragers may have laid the foundation for farming’s ascent in South America’s tropical forests.

  2. Archaeology

    Ancient sculptors made magnetic figures from rocks struck by lightning

    Carved ‘potbelly’ stone sculptures suggest people in what’s now Guatemala knew about magnetism more than 2,000 years ago.

  3. Archaeology

    Newly translated Cherokee cave writings reveal sacred messages

    Cherokee inscriptions highlight the tribe’s rituals nearly 200 years ago in what’s now a tourist cave in Alabama.

  4. Archaeology

    ‘Cities’ reveals common ground between ancient and modern urban life

    In the book ‘Cities,’ archaeologist Monica Smith sees the positives in past and present metropolises.

  5. Anthropology

    A new hominid species has been found in a Philippine cave, fossils suggest

    Cave fossils found in the Philippines come from a newly discovered member of the human lineage, researchers say.

  6. Anthropology

    Foreigners may have conquered ancient Egypt without invading it

    Dental evidence suggests female Hyksos immigrants married into power.

  7. Anthropology

    The first known fossil of a Denisovan skull has been found in a Siberian cave

    A new fossil and evidence that the hominids interbred with humans as recently as 15,000 years ago only add to Denisovans’ mystery.

  8. Archaeology

    The oldest known astrolabe was used on one of Vasco da Gama’s ships

    A navigational device for taking altitudes at sea was found in a Portuguese shipwreck in the Arabian Sea and dates back to 1496.

  9. Humans

    The rise of farming altered our bite and changed how people talk

    Eating soft, processed foods refashioned adults' jaws, which added “f” and “v” sounds to speech and changed languages worldwide, a study finds.

  10. Anthropology

    Hominids may have hunted rabbits as far back as 400,000 years ago

    Stone Age groups in Europe put small game on the menu surprisingly early.

  11. Archaeology

    A 2,000-year-old tattoo tool is the oldest in western North America

    The artifact is made of two pigment-stained cactus spines, and has been sitting in storage since its discovery in 1972.

  12. Archaeology

    Ancient Angkor’s mysterious decline may have been slow, not sudden

    Analyzing sediment from the massive city’s moat challenges the idea that the last capital of the Khmer Empire collapsed suddenly.