Rachel Nuwer
{{Short description|American journalist and author}}
File:Rachel Nuwer 2023 Texas Book Festival.jpg
Rachel Nuwer is an independent American journalist and author of the 2018 nonfiction book Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking (Da Capo Press). She has covered the issue of poaching from the perspectives of criminals, activists and science for years in prominent publications, including the Smithsonian, BBC Future, The New York Times, and National Geographic.{{Cite news|last=Biba|first=Erin|date=2018-09-28|title=Poachers Will Continue to Kill Animals—But There's Hope|language=en|newspaper=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/rachel-nuwers-book-poached-hunting-might-be-good-for-the-anti-poaching-movement|access-date=2021-12-17}}
Early life
Nuwer grew up in Mississippi and studied biology at Loyola University New Orleans, where she researched Mekong River fish. She earned a master's degree in ecology at the University of East Anglia and attended New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program.{{Cite web|last=Zivkovic|first=Bora|title=Introducing: Rachel Nuwer|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/incubator/introducing-rachel-nuwer/|access-date=2021-09-21|website=Scientific American Blog Network|language=en}} Her master's thesis for her East Anglia degree was published by the Cambridge University Press.{{cite journal|last1=Nuwer|first1=Rachel|last2=Bell|first2=Diana|date=2013-10-09|title=Identifying and quantifying the threats to biodiversity in the U Minh peat swamp forests of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam|journal=Oryx|language=en|volume=48|issue=1|pages=88–94|doi=10.1017/S0030605312000865|s2cid=85631089 |issn=|doi-access=free}}
Nuwer says that her education in biology helped shape her career.
Career
Nuwer has written for Smithsonian, BBC Future, The New York Times, and National Geographic. She is well known for working under cover to access black markets for wildlife.{{Cite web|date=2021-08-10|title=Rachel Nuwer: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking|url=https://www.jordanharbinger.com/rachel-nuwer-inside-the-dark-world-of-wildlife-trafficking/|website=The Jordan Harbinger Show|language=en-US|access-date=2025-03-13}} Nuwer's 2023 book, I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World, examines the cultural and scientific aspects of MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy. A review of the book in Reason said that Nuwer "mostly prefers to explore the positive potential of ecstasy and the forces, such as MAPS, seeking to unleash it" and that her book "covers a little too briefly" adverse events like suicidal ideation of in some trial participants.{{cite web |last1=Vorobyov |first1=Niko |title=The Return of MDMA |date=2023-07-29|url=https://reason.com/2023/07/29/the-return-of-mdma/ |website=Reason |access-date=2025-03-13}}
Awards and honors
Nuwer won the Abe Fellowship for Journalists in 2017.{{Cite web|title=Rachel L Nuwer|url=https://www.ssrc.org/fellow/0BF80B75-0894-E811-80CB-005056AB0BD9/|access-date=2021-09-10|website=Social Science Research Council|language=en}}
Her book Poached won the American Society of Journalists and Authors general non-fiction book award,{{Cite web|title=For The Media|url=http://asja.org/About-ASJA/For-The-Media/2019-Writing-Awards-winners|access-date=2021-09-10|website=asja.org}} a Nautilus Book Award,{{Cite web|title=2018 Grand/Gold Winners – Nautilus Book Awards|url=https://nautilusbookawards.com/2018-grandgold-winners/|access-date=2021-09-10|language=en-US}} and the Santa Monica Public Library Green Prize for Sustainable Literature.{{Cite web|title=Santa Monica Public Library's 2019 Green Prize for Sustainable Literature Winners|url=https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2019/10/18/santa-monica-public-library-s-2019-green-prize-for-sustainable-literature-winners|access-date=2021-09-10|website=www.santamonica.gov|language=en-US}}
Bibliography
{{Incomplete list|date=May 2022}}
- {{cite book |title=Poached: inside the dark world of wildlife trafficking |location= |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2018 }}
- {{cite journal |date=September 2020 |title=Egg hitchhikers: fish eggs still hatched after passing through a duck |journal=Scientific American |volume=323 |issue=3 |pages=16–17 |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fish-eggs-survive-journey-through-a-duck/ }}Online version is titled "Fish eggs survive journey through a duck".
- {{cite book | title=I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|date=June 2023 |url=https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/i-feel-love-mdma-and-the-quest-for-connection-in-a-fractured-world_rachel-nuwer/37392409/item/54211588/?mkwid=%7cdc&pcrid=76897258815619&pkw=&pmt=be&slid=&product=54211588&plc=&pgrid=1230353765528421&ptaid=pla-4580496734886475&msclkid=dd73a68277c1100774bcc3d3ff0ff636#idiq=54211588&edition=65382788|isbn=978-1635579574 }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Rachel Nuwer}}
{{Official website|www.rachelnuwer.com}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American online journalists
Category:Scientific American people
Category:Journalists from Mississippi
Category:21st-century American women journalists
Category:21st-century American journalists
Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American women non-fiction writers
Category:Loyola University New Orleans alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of East Anglia
Category:New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science alumni