Kelly Weinersmith
{{short description|American biologist and author}}
File:2011 Kelly Weinersmith (cropped).jpg
Kelly Weinersmith (née Smith) is an American biologist, writer, and podcaster.{{cite web |title=Two Nerds Fall in Love |url=https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2016/1/6/kelly-zach-weinersmith-two-nerds-fall-in-love |website=The Story Collider |date=10 February 2013 |accessdate=18 April 2019}} She is a member of the faculty at Rice University in the Department of BioSciences, and an alumni collaborator with the Parasite Ecology Group at the University of California, Santa Barbara.{{cite web |title=Kelly Weinersmith Parasite Ecology Group |url=http://parasitology.msi.ucsb.edu/people/alumni-collaborators/kelly-weinersmith |publisher=The Board of Regents of the University of California |accessdate=17 April 2019}}{{cite web |title=Adjunct Faculty: Department of BioSciences: School of Natural Sciences: Rice University |url=https://biosciences.rice.edu/faculty/adjunct |website=Adjunct Faculty: Department of BioScience: School of Natural Sciences: Rice University |publisher=Rice University |accessdate=18 April 2019 |archive-date=18 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418044406/https://biosciences.rice.edu/faculty/adjunct |url-status=dead }} She is co-author, with her husband Zach Weinersmith, of popular science books Soonish (2017) and A City on Mars (2023).
Research
A parasitologist, Weinersmith is the co-discoverer of Euderus set, commonly known as the crypt-keeper wasp.{{cite journal | author1 = Scott P. Egan | author2 = Kelly L. Weinersmith | author3 = Sean Liu | author4 = Ryan D. Ridenbaugh | author5 = Y. Miles Zhang | author6 = Andrew A. Forbes | display-authors = 3 | year = 2017 | title = Description of a new species of Euderus Haliday from the southeastern United States (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Eulophidae): the crypt-keeper wasp | doi = 10.3897/zookeys.645.11117 | pmid = 28228666 | pmc = 5299223 | journal = ZooKeys | issue = 645 | pages = 37–49| doi-access = free | bibcode = 2017ZooK..645...37E }}
Books
- Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything (2017) is a work co-authored with her husband Zach Weinersmith looking at upcoming technologies that could change the future.{{cite magazine |last1=Simon |first1=Matt |title=Soonish: The Future is Weird and Scary and Also Hilarious |url=https://www.wired.com/story/soonish-kelly-and-zach-weinersmith-the-future-is-weird-and-scary-and-also-hilarious/ |magazine=Wired |accessdate=18 April 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Robinson |first1=Tasha |title=Custom-Printed Cocktails On The Moon? 'Soonish' Shows Us How |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/10/19/557191493/custom-printed-cocktails-on-the-moon-soonish-shows-us-how |newspaper=NPR |date=19 October 2017 |accessdate=18 April 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Griggs |first1=Mary Beth |title=21 science books that make excellent gifts |url=https://www.popsci.com/best-science-books-2017 |website=Popular Science |date=7 January 2019 |accessdate=18 April 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Lewin |first1=Sarah |title=The Future of Space Is Coming…'Soonish' |url=https://www.space.com/38489-future-of-space-is-coming-soonish.html |website=Space.com |date=17 October 2017 |accessdate=17 April 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Soonish: exciting technologies on the horizon, with excitement-preserving nuance |url=https://boingboing.net/2018/01/09/more-complicated-still-cool.html |website=Boing Boing |date=9 January 2018 |accessdate=18 April 2019}} The book made #7 in Science on The New York Times bestsellers in the science book category.{{cite news |title=Science Books - Best Sellers - November 12, 2017 - The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2017/11/12/science/ |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=18 April 2019}}
- A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? (2023) is a popular science book on space settlement and challenges facing a potential colonization of Mars, colonization of the Moon, and related activities. In particular, it draws on Weinersmith's experience as an ecologist to study maintaining ecologies off-Earth where the humans in them do not all rapidly perish, a difficult task.{{cite news |last=Akers |first=W. M. |date=October 28, 2023 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/28/books/review/kelly-zach-weinersmith-city-on-mars.html |title=Is It Time to Pull Up Stakes and Head for Mars? |work=The New York Times |location= |access-date=November 21, 2023}} The work made 11th place on The New York Times Best Seller list for all hardback non-fiction books.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2023/11/26/hardcover-nonfiction/ |title=Hardcover Nonfiction (November 26, 2023) |date=November 2023 |work=The New York Times }} It was awarded the 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-14 |title=Royal Society science book prize 2024 shortlist announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2024/08/14/257045/royal-society-science-book-prize-2024-shortlist-announced/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=Books+Publishing}}{{Cite web |title=A City on Mars announced as winner of 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize {{!}} Royal Society |url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2024/10/science-book-prize-winner-2024/#:~:text=A%20book%20examining%20the%20complexities,Society%20Trivedi%20Science%20Book%20Prize. |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=royalsociety.org |language=en}}
Other activities
Weinersmith is a regular co-host of the Science... sort of podcast.{{Cite web|url=https://sciencesortof.com/paleopals|title=Paleopals|website=Science... sort of Podcast|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-30}}
She was a speaker at Smithsonian Magazine{{'}}s "2015 Future Is Here Festival".{{cite web |title=Will the Zombie-Makers of Today Yield the Neuroscience and Drug Discoveries of Tomorrow? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/future-is-here/future-is-here-festival-2015-kelly-weinersmith/ |website=Smithsonian.com |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=2019-04-18 |archive-date=2019-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417134229/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/future-is-here/future-is-here-festival-2015-kelly-weinersmith/ |url-status=dead }}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American parasitologists
Category:American women biologists
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American women science writers
Category:American science writers
Category:American science podcasters
Category:Rice University faculty
Category:American women academics