Upon her return to the United States, Aktipis and her colleague Lee Cronk, a professor in the department of anthropology at Rutgers University, co-founded the Human Generosity Project.

The Cooperation in the Apocalypse team, which includes Aktipis, brings together interdisciplinary scientists to examine human behavior in times of crisis and panic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together with their team, Aktipis and Cronk study the relationship between biological and cultural influences on human generosity by using multiple methodologies such as field work, laboratory experiments, and computational models.

[9] Aktipis uses this beverage to explore microbial resource exchange and to determine whether kombucha symbiosis is able to fight off pathogens that single species of microbes cannot.

[11] Aktipis hosts the educational podcast Zombified, in which she talks about ways in which we are vulnerable to be controlled by organisms and factors outside ourselves and what that means for our future.

[12] Aktipis has created an educational TV channel in response to the challenges of hosting an in-person conference during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a think tank where scholars, artists, practitioners, and thought leaders come together, Channel Zed provides opportunities to grapple with humanity's most challenging threats while celebrating examples of resilience and strength.

Channel Zed covers current events, lifestyle programming, emergency medicine and survival, history, culture, and other topics.