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

    ‘Replication crisis’ spurs reforms in how science studies are done

    Redos of social sciences studies from major journals point to opportunities for improvement.

  2. Anthropology

    A fossil mistaken for a bat may shake up lemurs’ evolutionary history

    On Madagascar, a type of lemur called aye-ayes may have a singular evolutionary history.

  3. Tech

    Children may be especially vulnerable to peer pressure from robots

    Elementary school children often endorsed unanimous but inaccurate judgments made by small groups of robots.

  4. Archaeology

    The debate over people’s pathway into the Americas heats up

    Defenders of an ice-free inland passage for early Americans make their case.

  5. Genetics

    Indonesia’s pygmies didn’t descend from hobbits, DNA analysis suggests

    Short people living on the Indonesian island of Flores don’t appear to have DNA from controversial, small-bodied Stone Age hominids called hobbits.

  6. Anthropology

    Cremated remains reveal hints of who is buried at Stonehenge

    Ancient stone monument held burials of people from more than 200 kilometers away, a new study suggests.

  7. Anthropology

    Conflict reigns over the history and origins of money

    Thousands of years ago, money took different forms as a means of debt payment, archaeologists and anthropologists say.

  8. Anthropology

    How an ancient stone money system works like cryptocurrency

    Money has ancient and mysterious pedigrees that go way beyond coins.

  9. Archaeology

    Texas toolmakers add to the debate over who the first Americans were

    Stone toolmakers inhabited Texas more than 16,000 years ago, before Clovis hunters arrived.

  10. Archaeology

    Stone tools put early hominids in China 2.1 million years ago

    Newly discovered stone tools in China suggest hominids left Africa 250,000 years earlier than we thought.

  11. Genetics

    North America’s earliest dogs came from Siberia

    North America’s first dogs have few descendants alive today, a study of ancient DNA suggests.

  12. Anthropology

    Foot fossil pegs hominid kids as upright walkers 3.3 million years ago

    A foot from an ancient hominid child suggests that Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, walked early in life.