1:02 p.m., April 9, 2010----Vanessa Woods, research scientist at Duke University and internationally published author, will deliver the next presentation in the cognitive science speaker series at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, April 15, in Room 206 Kirkbride Hall.

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Woods will speak on the topic “Bonobo Handshake -- Learning from Our Cousins in Congo.”

Woods is an award winning researcher, writer, and journalist from the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University. Her research interests include cooperative social behavior, xenophobia, and the development of socio-sexual behavior in chimpanzees and bonobos, with the overarching aim of finding part of the key to what makes us human.

She is the author of two books, including her soon to be released Bonobo Handshake. As a journalist, she has written for various media outlets, including the Discovery Channel, BBC Wildlife, New Scientist, and Travel Africa.

In 2003, Woods won the Australasian Science award for journalism. She has also written three children’s books,
one of which won the Acclaimed Book award from the Royal Society, UK.

To read more on her research, go to Woods' Web site.

An abstract on the presentation states, “For thousands of years, we have wondered what makes us human. To find the answer, we study our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and more recently, bonobos. Neither species is easy to study, but bonobos are particularly difficult, being the world's most endangered ape in the world's most dangerous country. But this makes them all the more important, and bonobos could not only unlock the secret of what makes us human, but also teach us how being a little less human could go a long way.”

The series is sponsored by the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science.