Athena Aktipis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Athena Aktipis
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Aktipis in 2017
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| Education | Reed College – BA (psychology, 2002) University of Pennsylvania – MA (psychology, 2004) and PhD (psychology, 2008) |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Employer | Arizona State University |
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Christina Athena Aktipis is a professor at Arizona State University. She studies many interesting things, like how people work together and how our bodies fight diseases. She is an expert in understanding how living things, from tiny cells to humans, cooperate (or don't!).
Aktipis leads the Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative. She also helps direct the Human Generosity Project. She runs the Cooperation and Conflict lab at Arizona State. She is also a leader in a group called the International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer (ISEEC).
Her work combines different fields like evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology. She also studies cancer. Aktipis has written two books: The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer (2020) and A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: A Mostly Serious Guide to Surviving Our Wild Times (2024). She also hosts a podcast called Zombified. This podcast talks about the science of things that can control us in everyday life.
Contents
Aktipis's Journey in Science
Aktipis started her science journey by earning a degree in psychology from Reed College in 2002. She continued her studies at the University of Pennsylvania. There, she earned her master's degree in 2004 and her Ph.D. in psychology in 2008.
After her Ph.D., she did more research at the University of Arizona. This was from 2011 to 2014. During this time, she also worked at Arizona State University. She was also a director at the Center for Evolution and Cancer at the University of California, San Francisco.
In 2013–2014, she was a special fellow in Berlin, Germany. When she came back to the United States, Aktipis and her colleague Lee Cronk started the Human Generosity Project. Since 2015, Aktipis has been a professor at Arizona State University.
Cool Projects and Research
Aktipis works on many exciting projects. These projects help us understand how living things interact.
Working Together in Tough Times
Aktipis is part of a team that studies how people behave during big problems. They call this "Cooperation in the Apocalypse." For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they collected information. They asked about things like wearing masks and how people handled stress. This helps us learn how humans act when things get difficult.
Understanding Cooperation Across Fields
The Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative brings together smart people. They all want to understand why and how cooperation happens. They hold meetings and workshops. They also have a special school to teach about cooperation. Aktipis also hosts online shows where she talks with other scientists about cooperation.
The Human Generosity Project
A big part of Aktipis's work is studying generosity. This means looking at how humans help each other, especially when someone is in need. Aktipis and Lee Cronk lead this project. They study how our biology and culture affect how generous we are. They use different ways to study this, like experiments and computer models.
Tiny Life Forms and Our Behavior
Our bodies are full of tiny living things called microbes. Aktipis and her team explore how these microbes might affect us. They look at how microbes could play a role in what we eat and how we act around others.
Kombucha: A Study in Teamwork
Kombucha is a fizzy drink made from tea. It's created by a team of bacteria and yeast working together. Aktipis uses kombucha to study how these tiny organisms share resources. She also checks if this teamwork helps them fight off bad germs.
Cancer: When Cells Don't Cooperate
Our bodies are made of many cells that work together. Cancer happens when some cells stop cooperating. They start growing out of control. Aktipis studies cancer using this idea of cooperation. She uses ideas from evolution and computer models. Her work helps us understand how our bodies try to defend against cancer.
Zombified Podcast
Aktipis hosts an interesting podcast called Zombified. In this show, she talks about how we can be influenced by things outside ourselves. This could be anything from tiny parasites to everyday habits. The podcast features interviews with experts from many different science areas. They discuss how things beyond our control can affect our behavior.
Channel Zed
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aktipis created an online TV channel called Channel Zed. This channel has interactive shows about how to survive and do well during tough times. It's a place where smart people, artists, and leaders come together. They talk about big challenges facing humanity. They also celebrate stories of strength and bouncing back. Channel Zed covers current events, health tips, history, and culture.
Selected Talks
Aktipis has given many talks about her research. Here are a few:
- "Why Do We Get Cancer?", Berlin Institute for Advanced Study, 2014
- "The Science of Sharing", The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, 2015
- "Do You Believe in Generosity", TEDxASU, 2016
- "Why Cancer Is Everywhere", Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, 2018
- "The Evolutionary Biology of Zombification", Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, 2019
