Survival of the Friendliest

Survival of the Friendliest | Vanessa Woods | TEDxNCSSM | TEDx Talks

Primate researcher Vanessa Woods says that when it comes to emotional intelligence, bonobos put the human world to shame.

This talk is about Wood’s research comparing the cognition of bonobos and chimpanzees, and learning what bonobos can tell us about becoming a more peaceful species.

She is the author of the New York Times Bestseller The Genius of Dogs (Dutton 2013), and Bonobo Handshake (Gotham 2010), which won the Thomas Lowell Award for non fiction. In 2007, Vanessa’s children’s book, It’s True: Space Turns you into Spaghetti, won the Acclaimed Book award from the Royal Society. In 2005, Vanessa won the Australasian Science award for journalism. Vanessa has written 7 books that have been published in 12 languages.Vanessa has written hundreds of popular science articles and has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, National Geographic, New Scientist and BBC Wildlife. Currently a Research Scientist at Duke University, since 2005, Vanessa has worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo studying bonobos, and the People’s Republic of Congo studying chimpanzees. Vanessa is interested in comparing the cognition of bonobos and chimpanzees, and learning what bonobos can tell us about becoming a more peaceful species.