Kelly Weinersmith (née Smith) is an American biologist, writer, and podcaster. She is a member of the faculty at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in the Department of BioSciences, and an alumni collaborator with the Parasite Ecology Group at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. She is co-author, with her husband Zach Weinersmith, of

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

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.

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. The book made #7 in Science on ''The New York Times'' bestsellers in the science book category. *'' 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 A space settlement (also called a space habitat, spacestead, space city or space colony) is a settlement in outer space, sustaining more extensively habitation facilities in space than a general space station or spacecraft. Possibly including ...

and challenges facing a potential

colonization of Mars 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

colonization of the Moon The colonization of the Moon is a process or concept employed by some proposals for robotic or human exploitation and settlement endeavours on the Moon. Often used as a synonym for its more specific element of settling the Moon (the establishi ...

, 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. The work made 11th place on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for all hardback non-fiction books. It was awarded the 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize.

Other activities

Weinersmith is a regular co-host of the ''Science... sort of'' podcast. She was a speaker at ''

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is a magazine covering science, history, art, popular culture and innovation. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' magazine ...

''s "2015 Future Is Here Festival".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinersmith, Kelly Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American parasitologists American women biologists 21st-century American women writers American women science writers American science writers American science podcasters Rice University faculty American women academics American women podcasters Hugo Award–winning writers