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

    Dawn of the City

    A research team has excavated huge public structures from more than 6,000 years ago in northeastern Syria, challenging the notion that the world's first cities arose in the so-called fertile crescent of what's now southern Iraq.

  2. Sickness and Schizophrenia: Psychotic ills tied to previous infections

    Two new studies provide evidence for the longstanding suspicion that certain viral infections early in life promote the development of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.

  3. 9/11 attacks stoked U.S. heart ailments

    People who experienced serious stress reactions shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks also displayed markedly elevated rates of new heart and blood vessel ailments over the next 3 years.

  4. Antidepressants get overly positive spin

    Studies finding beneficial effects of antidepressant drugs for depressed patients get published far more often than do studies that uncover no antidepressant benefits.

  5. Anthropology

    Infectious Voyagers: DNA suggests Columbus took syphilis to Europe

    A genetic analysis of syphilis and related bacterial strains from different parts of the world fits the theory that Christopher Columbus and his crew brought syphilis from the Americas to Renaissance Europe, where it evolved into modern strains of the sexually transmitted disease.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Risky DNA: Autism studies yield fresh genetic leads

    Two new studies point to the diverse genetic roots of autism and related developmental disorders, while other evidence questions the claim that mercury-based childhood vaccines have contributed to rising autism rates.

  7. Foster care benefits abandoned kids

    Orphan infants living in Romanian institutions who were randomly assigned to receive foster care showed marked improvements in thinking and reasoning skills by age 4-1/2, compared with their peers who remained institutionalized.

  8. Damage Control: Brain injuries fight off PTSD in vets

    Damage to either of two brain regions protects combat veterans against developing the severe stress ailment known as post-traumatic stress disorder, a finding with implications for treating this condition.

  9. Mean Streets: Kids’ verbal skills drop in bad neighborhoods

    A long-term study of Chicago children and their families finds that kids living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods display substantial declines in verbal ability as they get older, even if they move to a nicer community.

  10. ADHD kids show slower brain growth

    A new brain-scan investigation indicates that attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder involves substantial delays in children's brain development.

  11. Anthropology

    Ancient-ape remains discovered in Kenya

    Newly unearthed fossils of a 9.8-million-year-old ape in eastern Africa come from a creature that may have evolved into a common ancestor of African apes and humans.

  12. Showdown at Sex Gap

    Faced with two contrasting reports on the science of sex differences in mathematics and science aptitude, researchers at a meeting held in October tried to figure out what's really known about this controversy and how the findings apply to education and test taking.