Kelly Weinersmith (née Smith) is an American biologist, writer, and podcaster.1 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.23 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.4
Books
- Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything (2017) is a work Kelly co-authored with her husband Zach Weinersmith looking at upcoming technologies that could change the future.56789 The book made #7 in Science on The New York Times bestsellers in the science book category.10
- A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? (2023), which Kelly also co-authored with her husband Zach Weinersmith, 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.11 The work made 11th place on The New York Times Best Seller list for all hardback non-fiction books.12 It was awarded the 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize.1314
Other activities
Weinersmith is co-host of the podcast Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe,15 and regular co-host of the podcast Science... sort of.16
She was a speaker at Smithsonian Magazine's "2015 Future Is Here Festival".17
References
References
- "Two Nerds Fall in Love". The Story Collider. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- "Kelly Weinersmith Parasite Ecology Group". The Board of Regents of the University of California. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- "Adjunct Faculty: Department of BioSciences: School of Natural Sciences: Rice University". Adjunct Faculty: Department of BioScience: School of Natural Sciences: Rice University. Rice University. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- Scott P. Egan; Kelly L. Weinersmith; Sean Liu; et al. (2017). "Description of a new species of Euderus Haliday from the southeastern United States (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Eulophidae): the crypt-keeper wasp". ZooKeys (645): 37–49. Bibcode:2017ZooK..645...37E. doi:10.3897/zookeys.645.11117. PMC 5299223. PMID 28228666.
- Simon, Matt. "Soonish: The Future is Weird and Scary and Also Hilarious". Wired. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- Robinson, Tasha (19 October 2017). "Custom-Printed Cocktails On The Moon? 'Soonish' Shows Us How". NPR. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- Griggs, Mary Beth (7 January 2019). "21 science books that make excellent gifts". Popular Science. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- Lewin, Sarah (17 October 2017). "The Future of Space Is Coming…'Soonish'". Space.com. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- Doctorow, Cory (9 January 2018). "Soonish: exciting technologies on the horizon, with excitement-preserving nuance". Boing Boing. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- "Science Books - Best Sellers - November 12, 2017 - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- Akers, W. M. (October 28, 2023). "Is It Time to Pull Up Stakes and Head for Mars?". The New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
- "Hardcover Nonfiction (November 26, 2023)". The New York Times. November 2023.
- "Royal Society science book prize 2024 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
- "A City on Mars announced as winner of 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
- "Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe". Retrieved July 18, 2025.
- "Paleopals". Science... sort of Podcast. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
- "Will the Zombie-Makers of Today Yield the Neuroscience and Drug Discoveries of Tomorrow?". Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-18.