Vanessa Woods
{{short description|Australian science writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2012}}
{{about|the Australian science writer|the American engineer with a similar name|Vanessa Wood}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Vanessa Woods
| image = Vanessa Woods.jpg
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| caption = Vanessa Woods with a bonobo at Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary in DRC.
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1977}}
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| occupation = Scientist
Author
Journalist
| nationality = Australian
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| citizenship = Australia, United States
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| alma_mater = Australian National University
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| spouse = Brian Hare
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Vanessa Woods (born 1977) is an Australian science writer, author and journalist, and is the main Australian/New Zealand feature writer for the Discovery Channel.{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/author.asp?id=6362 |title=The Royal Society bio of Vanessa Woods |work=royalsociety.org |publisher=Royal Society |access-date=2009-05-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609233047/http://royalsociety.org/author.asp?id=6362 |archive-date=9 June 2008 }}
{{cite web
|url=http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=311&author=34
|title=Vanessa Woods bio at Allen&Unwin
|work=allenandunwin.com
|publisher=Allen & Unwin|access-date=2009-05-15}} A graduate of the Australian National University with a Master's degree in Science Communication,{{cite web|url=http://www.anu.edu.au/alumni/content/profiles/vanessa_woods/|title=Vanessa Woods – Alumni of ANU College of Science|work=anu.edu.au|publisher=Australian National University|access-date=2009-05-15}} and an author of children's books, she is best known for her work in both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo comparing the different cooperative behaviors of bonobos and common chimpanzees.
{{cite news
|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sex-and-cooperation--its-the-bonobo-in-you/2007/03/23/1174597882730.html
|title=Sex and co-operation – it's the bonobo in you
|last=Smith
|first=Deborah
|work=The Sydney Morning Herald
|access-date=2009-05-15
{{cite news
|url=http://www.smh.com.au/travel/under-the-congos-spell-20081113-62tk.html
|title=Under the Congo's spell
|date=13 November 2008
|work=The Sydney Morning Herald
|access-date=2009-05-15}} Her mother is of Chinese descent.A. Pung, Growing Up Asian in Australia. Black Inc., 2008. {{ISBN|1-86395-191-1}}.
She is the author of Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo and It's Every Monkey for Themselves: A True Story of Sex, Love, and Lies in the Jungle.
Career
Working with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, she spent 10 months in the Democratic Republic of Congo studying bonobos, a species of great ape as genetically close to humans as the Common Chimpanzee, in order to make comparisons between the behaviors of humankind and ape.
{{cite news
|url=http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bonobo-research.html#cr
|title=Why are Bonobos so laid back?
|publisher=Wildlife Extra
|pages=wildlifeextra.com
{{cite news
|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21444916-662,00.html
|title=Ape mums bananas
|last=Rose
|first=Kate
|date=26 March 2007
|work=news.com.au
{{cite news
|url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/02/09/1843938.htm?site=indepthfeature&topic=latest
|title=Chimps really are cheeky monkeys
|last=Viegas
|first=Jennifer
|date=9 February 2007
|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation
|access-date=2009-05-15}}{{cite web|url=http://whyfiles.org/shorties/237chimp_altruism/ |title=Chimpanzees |last=Tenenbaum |first=David |date=5 July 2007 |work=whyfiles.org |publisher=The Why Files |access-date=2009-05-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022154346/http://whyfiles.org/shorties/237chimp_altruism/ |archive-date=22 October 2007 }}
{{cite web
|url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/01/24/deceitfulchimps_ani.html?category=animals
|title=Chimps Know How to Deceive People
|last=Viegas
|first=Jennifer
|date=24 January 2007
|work=discovery.com
|publisher=Discovery Channel
|access-date=2009-05-15}}
She wrote an in-depth report on killer bees encountered during her studies in Costa Rica,
{{cite news
|url=http://www.watoday.com.au/travel/attack-of-the-killer-bees-20081113-630m.html?page=-1
|title=Attack of the killer bees
|date=13 November 2008
|work=watoday.com.au
|publisher=WA Today
|access-date=2009-05-15}} and has also written a piece on the yearly cherry blossom experience in Kyoto, Japan.
{{cite news
|url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/japan/watch-and-weep/2008/03/05/1204402540144.html?page=fullpage
|title=Watch and Weep
|date=8 March 2008
|work=Brisbane Times
|access-date=2009-05-15}}
Partial bibliography
- It's Every Monkey for Themselves – (2007) Allen & Unwin, {{ISBN|978-1-74114-859-6}}
- Bonobo Handshake – (2010) Penguin USA/Gotham Books, {{ISBN|978-1-59240-546-6}}
- Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods, "Survival of the Friendliest: Natural selection for hypersocial traits enabled Earth's apex species to best Neandertals and other competitors", Scientific American, vol. 323, no. 2 (August 2020), pp. 58–63.
- Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods, "Survival of the Friendliest. Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity". New York: Random House 2020. ISBN 978-0-39959-068-9
= Children's books =
- It's True! There Are Bugs in Your Bed (2004) {{ISBN|1-74114-299-7}}
- It's True! Space turns you into spaghetti (2006) {{ISBN|1-74114-625-9}}
- It's True! Pirates ate rats (2007) {{ISBN|1-74114-607-0}}
Awards and recognition
In 2003, Woods won the Australasian Science Award for journalism. In 2007, her children's book on space, It's True! Space turns you into spaghetti, was named an Acclaimed Book by the UK Royal Society and shortlisted for the Royal Society's Junior Science Book Prize.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.bonobohandshake.com/ Bonobo Handshake]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Vanessa}}
Category:Australian journalists
Category:Australian women scientists
Category:Australian people of Chinese descent
Category:Australian National University alumni
Category:Australian science writers