Nicholas Christakis

Christakis' parents are Greek. They had three biological children and then adopted two others, an African-American girl and a Taiwanese boy.{{Cite web|url=http://thepenngazette.com/good-by-design/|title=Good By Design|date=April 19, 2019|access-date=May 13, 2019}} His father was a nuclear physicist turned business consultant and his mother a physical chemist turned psychologist.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/nicholas-christakis-the-yale-professor-who-stood-up-to-the-mob-pzqqpx3zt|title=Nicholas Christakis — the Yale professor who stood up to the mob|last=Billen|first=Andrew|date=April 3, 2019|work=The Times|access-date=May 13, 2019|issn=0140-0460}}

Christakis was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1962 when both his parents were Yale University graduate students. His family returned to Greece when he was three, and Greek became his first language. He returned to the United States with his family at age six and grew up in Washington, D.C.{{Cite web|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3943-nicholas-christakis|title=Nature, nurture, or network?|website=yalealumnimagazine.com|access-date=May 13, 2019}} He graduated from St. Albans School.

Christakis obtained a B.S. in biology from Yale University in 1984, where he won the Russell Henry Chittenden Prize. He received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1989, winning the Bowdoin Prize.{{cite news |last1=Dierendonck |first1=Jan Hein van |title=Enter the Matrix |url=https://www.medischcontact.nl/actueel/laatste-nieuws/artikel/enter-the-matrix |access-date=February 1, 2025 |work=Medisch Contact |issue=64 nr. 46 |date=November 12, 2009 |language=nl}}{{cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae |url=https://humannaturelab.net/sites/default/files/2024-05/Christakis_cv_240517.pdf |website=Human Nature Lab, Yale University |access-date=February 1, 2025}}

In 1991, Christakis completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Health System.{{cite web |title=Nicholas A. Christakis |url=https://nomisfoundation.ch/people/nicholas-a-christakis/ |website=The NOMIS Foundation |access-date=February 1, 2025}} He was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1993. He obtained a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.{{cite web |title=ETH Global Lecture Series: Social Artificial Intelligence |url=https://ethz.ch/en/the-eth-zurich/global/eth-global-news-events/2024/09/eth-global-lecture-series-social-artificial-intelligence.html |website=ETH Zurich |access-date=February 1, 2025 |language=en |date=September 2, 2024}} While at the University of Pennsylvania as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, he studied with Renee C. Fox, a distinguished American medical sociologist;{{cite news |last1=Klein |first1=Julia M. |title=Good By Design |url=https://thepenngazette.com/good-by-design/ |access-date=February 1, 2025 |work=The Pennsylvania Gazette |date=April 19, 2019}} other members of his dissertation committee were methodologist Paul Allison and physician Sankey Williams. His dissertation was published as Death Foretold, his first book.Gina Kolata, [https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/28/health/conversation-with-nicholas-christakis-doctor-with-cause-what-s-my-prognosis.html "A Conversation with: Nicholas Christakis; A Doctor with a Cause: 'What's My Prognosis?{{'"}}], The New York Times, November 28, 2000.

In 1995, Christakis started as an assistant professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Sociology and of Medicine at the University of Chicago. In 2001, he was awarded tenure in both Sociology and Medicine. He left the University of Chicago to take up a position at Harvard in 2001. Until July 2013, he was a professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; a professor of medical sociology in the Department of Health Care Policy and a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School;{{cite news |author=Harvard Medical School |title=New study of hunter-gatherers suggests social networks sparked evolution of cooperation |url=https://phys.org/news/2012-01-hunter-gatherers-social-networks-evolution-cooperation.html |access-date=February 1, 2025 |work=phys.org |date=January 25, 2012}} and an attending physician at the Harvard-affiliated Mount Auburn Hospital.{{cite web |title=Nicholas A. Christakis M.D, Ph.D. |url=https://thisemotionallife.org/people/expert/nicholas-christakis-md-phd/ |website=This Emotional Life |publisher=NOVA/WGBH Science Unit and Vulcen Productions, Inc. |date=January 11, 2012}}

In 2013, Christakis moved to Yale University, where he is a professor of social and natural science in the Department of Sociology, with additional appointments in the Departments of Statistics and Data Science; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Biomedical Engineering; Medicine; and in the School of Management.{{cite web|url=http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/christakis.html |title=Nicholas A. Christakis |publisher=Edge |access-date=November 10, 2015}} He served as the Sol Goldman Family Professor of Social and Natural Science from 2013{{cite news |title=Dr. Nicholas Christakis is named the Sol Goldman Family Professor {{!}} Yale News |url=https://news.yale.edu/2013/10/28/dr-nicholas-christakis-named-sol-goldman-family-professor |work=news.yale.edu |date=October 28, 2013}} to 2018, when he was appointed as a Sterling Professor, the highest honor bestowed on Yale faculty.

From 2009 to 2013, Christakis and his wife, Erika Christakis, were Co-Masters of Pforzheimer House, one of Harvard's twelve residential houses.[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=526535 Bita M. Asad and Ahmed Mabruk, "Christakises to Be Pfoho House Masters," The Harvard Crimson, February 17, 2009.]{{cite news |title=PFoho's First Family |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/pdf/2013/07-pdfs/0713-54.pdf |work=Harvard Magazine|page=57 |issue=July |date=2013}} From 2015 to 2016, he served in a similar capacity at Silliman College at Yale University.[http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/02/27/christakis-will-be-new-silliman-master/ Emma Platoff and Victor Wang, "Christakis named Silliman master," Yale News, February 27, 2015.]{{cite news |title=Nicholas A. Christakis Honored with Sterling Professorship at Yale |url=https://www.thenationalherald.com/nicholas-a-christakis-honored-with-sterling-professorship-at-yale/# |work=The National Herald |date=August 17, 2018}}

Christakis uses quantitative methods (e.g., experiments, mathematical models, and statistical analyses). His work focuses on network science and biosocial science, and it has also involved sociology, economics, demography, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, behavior genetics, and epidemiology. He is an author or editor of six books, more than 200 peer-reviewed academic articles, numerous editorials in national and international publications, and at least three patents.{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5655084A/en |title=Radiological image interpretation apparatus and method}}{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US8713143B2/en|title=Establishing a social network}}{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US20080183454A1|title=Disease diagnoses-based disease prediction}} His laboratory is also active in the development and release of software to conduct large-scale social science experiments, pioneering its use beginning in 2009 (e.g., Breadboard, Trellis).{{Cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=Hirokazu |last2=Fu |first2=Feng |last3=Fowler |first3=James H. |last4=Christakis |first4=Nicholas A. |date=November 14, 2013 |title=Quality versus quantity of social ties in experimental cooperative networks |journal=Nature Communications |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=2814 |doi=10.1038/ncomms3814 |pmid=24226079 |pmc=3868237 |bibcode=2013NatCo...4.2814S |s2cid=6381186 |issn=2041-1723|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Lungeanu |first1=Alina |last2=McKnight |first2=Mark |last3=Negron |first3=Rennie |last4=Munar |first4=Wolfgang |last5=Christakis |first5=Nicholas A. |last6=Contractor |first6=Noshir S. |date=July 1, 2021 |title=Using Trellis software to enhance high-quality large-scale network data collection in the field |journal=Social Networks |volume=66 |pages=171–184 |doi=10.1016/j.socnet.2021.02.007 |pmid=34219904 |pmc=8117970 |issn=0378-8733}}

Christakis' early work was on physician decision-making and end-of-life care. He first began to study interpersonal social network effects in this setting in the late 1990s, with a series of studies of the widowhood effect, whereby the death of one person might increase the risk of death of their spouse.{{Cite journal |last1=Christakis |first1=Nicholas A. |last2=Allison |first2=Paul D. |date=February 16, 2006 |title=Mortality after the Hospitalization of a Spouse |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=354 |issue=7 |pages=719–730 |doi=10.1056/NEJMsa050196 |issn=0028-4793 |pmid=16481639|s2cid=8229736 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3685835 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Elwert |first1=Felix |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |date=February 2006 |title=Widowhood and Race |journal=American Sociological Review |language=en |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=16–41 |doi=10.1177/000312240607100102 |s2cid=15340529 |issn=0003-1224}} He developed a number of innovative ways to estimate the causal nature of these effects (e.g., by studying how the death of a man's ex-wife might affect his risk of death),{{Cite journal |last1=Elwert |first1=Felix |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |date=November 1, 2008 |title=Wives and ex-wives: A new test for homogamy bias in the widowhood effect |journal=Demography |language=en |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=851–873 |doi=10.1353/dem.0.0029 |issn=1533-7790 |pmc=2789302 |pmid=19110901}} and he expanded the scope of such work to analyze, for instance, how the precise diagnosis or duration of illness of the decedent might modify the risk of death of their survivor or how better quality of health care given to a dying person might reduce the risk of death of their survivor.{{Cite journal |last1=Elwert |first1=Felix |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |date=November 1, 2008 |title=The Effect of Widowhood on Mortality by the Causes of Death of Both Spouses |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=98 |issue=11 |pages=2092–2098 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2007.114348 |issn=0090-0036 |pmc=2636447 |pmid=18511733}}{{Cite journal |last1=Christakis |first1=Nicholas A |last2=Iwashyna |first2=Theodore J |date=August 1, 2003 |title=The health impact of health care on families: a matched cohort study of hospice use by decedents and mortality outcomes in surviving, widowed spouses |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=465–475 |doi=10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00370-2 |pmid=12791489 |issn=0277-9536}} In a 2006 paper in The New England Journal of Medicine that analyzed 518,240 elderly couples, he explored how hospitalization of a spouse, and not just their death, might affect a survivor's mortality risk.

Building on his early studies of network effects involving simple dyads of people (spousal pairs), Christakis began to examine the impact of illness and death through social networks of family, friends, and colleagues.{{cite news |last1=Conniff |first1=Richard |title=Nature, nurture, or network? |url=https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3943-nicholas-christakis |access-date=February 1, 2025 |work=Yale Alumni Magazine |issue=October |date=2014}} Starting in 2004, he began to study "hyper-dyadic" network effects, whereby processes of social contagion moved beyond pairs of people.{{Cite journal |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |date=July 22, 2004 |title=Social networks and collateral health effects |url=https://www.bmj.com/content/329/7459/184 |journal=BMJ |volume=329 |issue=7459 |pages=184–185 |doi=10.1136/bmj.329.7459.184 |issn=0959-8138 |pmid=15271805|pmc=487721 }} Using observational studies with his colleague James H. Fowler, he documented that a variety of phenomena like obesity,{{cite journal|title=The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years |journal=The New England Journal of Medicine |last1=Christakis |first1=Nicholas A. |last2=Fowler |first2=James H. |volume=357 |issue=4 |pages=370–379 |doi=10.1056/NEJMsa066082 |year=2007 |pmid=17652652|s2cid=264194973 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3710802 }} smoking,{{cite journal|title=The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network |journal=The New England Journal of Medicine |last1=Christakis |first1=Nicholas A. |last2=Fowler |first2=James H. |volume=358 |issue=21 |year=2008 |doi=10.1056/NEJMsa0706154 |pmid=18499567 |pmc=2822344 |pages=2249–2258}} and happiness,{{cite journal|title=Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study |last1=Christakis |first1=Nicholas A. |last2=Fowler |first2=James H. |journal=British Medical Journal |issue=337 |doi=10.1136/bmj.a2338 |pmid=19056788 |pmc=2600606 |volume=337 |year=2008 |pages=a2338}} rather than being solely individualistic, also arise via social contagion mechanisms over some distance within complex social networks (see: "three degrees of influence").{{cite book |title=Connected:The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives |last1=Christakis |first1=Nicholas A. |last2=Fowler |first2=James H. |year=2009 |publisher=Little, Brown and Co. |isbn=978-0316036146 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/connectedsurpris00chri }} Later observational work explored how vaccination might spread across social networks.{{Cite journal |last1=Onnela |first1=Jukka-Pekka |last2=Landon |first2=Bruce E. |last3=Kahn |first3=Anna-Lea |last4=Ahmed |first4=Danish |last5=Verma |first5=Harish |last6=O'Malley |first6=A. James |last7=Bahl |first7=Sunil |last8=Sutter |first8=Roland W. |last9=Christakis |first9=Nicholas A. |date=March 1, 2016 |title=Polio vaccine hesitancy in the networks and neighborhoods of Malegaon, India |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616300247 |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=153 |pages=99–106 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.024 |issn=0277-9536 |pmid=26889952}}{{Cite journal |last1=Fu |first1=Feng |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |last3=Fowler |first3=James H. |date=March 2, 2017 |title=Dueling biological and social contagions |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=43634 |bibcode=2017NatSR...743634F |doi=10.1038/srep43634 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=5333634 |pmid=28252663 |s2cid=470759 |doi-access=free}} In a 2010 TED talk, Christakis summarized the broader implications of the role of networks in human activity.{{cite web |title=Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks |url=http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks.html |access-date=November 10, 2015 |website=TED Talk}}

In 2010, by exploiting the friendship paradox, a paper analyzed the spread of H1N1 influenza at Harvard University (as part of the 2009 swine flu pandemic) and showed that an understanding of social networks could be used to develop 'sensors' for forecasting epidemics (of germs and other phenomena).{{cite journal |last1=Christakis |first1=N.A. |last2=Fowler |first2=J.H. |year=2010 |title=Social Network Sensors for Early Detection of Contagious Outbreaks |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=5 |issue=9 |page=e12948 |arxiv=1004.4792 |bibcode=2010PLoSO...512948C |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0012948 |pmc=2939797 |pmid=20856792 |doi-access=free}} In another 2010 TED talk, Christakis describes this effort (and computational social science more generally).{{cite web |title=Nicholas Christakis: How social networks predict epidemics | TED Talk |url=http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/nicholas_christakis_how_social_networks_predict_epidemics.html |access-date=November 10, 2015 |publisher=TED.com}} A follow-up paper in 2014 documented the utility of this "friendship paradox" "sensor networks" approach to forecast online trends using Twitter data.{{cite journal |last1=Garcia-Herranz |first1=Manuel |last2=Moro |first2=Esteban |last3=Cebrian |first3=Manuel |last4=Christakis |first4=Nicholas A. |last5=Fowler |first5=James H. |year=2014 |title=Using Friends as Sensors to Detect Global-Scale Contagious Outbreaks |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=e92413 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...992413G |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0092413 |pmc=3981694 |pmid=24718030 |doi-access=free}}

Beginning in 2010, further work by Christakis and his collaborators used experimental methods and diverse data sets and settings to study social network contagion and structure, thereby enhancing the robustness of causal inference.{{Cite journal | doi=10.1073/pnas.0913149107| pmid=20212120| pmc=2851803| title=Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks| journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences| volume=107| issue=12| pages=5334–5338| year=2010| last1=Fowler| first1=J. H.| last2=Christakis| first2=N. A.| bibcode=2010PNAS..107.5334F| arxiv=0908.3497| doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |last1=Rand |first1=DG |last2=Arbesman |first2=S |last3=Christakis |first3=NA |date=November 2011 |title=Dynamic social networks promote cooperation in experiments with humans |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=108 |issue=48 |pages=19193–19198 |bibcode=2011PNAS..10819193R |doi=10.1073/pnas.1108243108 |pmc=3228461 |pmid=22084103 |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |title=A Randomised Controlled Trial of Social Network Targeting to Maximise Population Behaviour Change |last1=Kim |first1=David |journal=The Lancet |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60095-2 |volume=386 |issue=9989 |year=2015 |pages=145–153 |pmid=25952354 |pmc=4638320}}{{cite journal |title=Inequality and Visibility of Wealth in Experimental Social Networks |last1=Nishi |first1=Akihiro |last2=Shirado |first2=Hirokazu |last3=Rand |first3=David G. |last4=Christakis |first4=Nicholas A. |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/nature15392 |volume=526 |issue=7573 |date=October 2015 |pages=426–429 |pmid=26352469 |bibcode=2015Natur.526..426N |s2cid=4446774}}{{Cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=Hirokazu |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |date=May 18, 2017 |title=Locally noisy autonomous agents improve global human coordination in network experiments |journal=Nature |volume=545 |issue=7654 |pages=370–374 |pmc=5912653 |doi=10.1038/nature22332 |pmid=28516927 |issn=0028-0836 |bibcode=2017Natur.545..370S}} For instance, a 2010 paper demonstrated that cooperative behavior could spread to three degrees of separation. A 2015 paper showed that vitamin use in developing-world villages could be made to be contagious. A 2022 paper used another experiment to show how a novel "pair targeting" algorithm could enhance population-level social contagion of the adoption of iron-fortified salt to reduce anemia in mothers and children in India.{{Cite journal |last1=Alexander |first1=Marcus |last2=Forastiere |first2=Laura |last3=Gupta |first3=Swati |last4=Christakis |first4=Nicholas A. |date=July 26, 2022 |title=Algorithms for seeding social networks can enhance the adoption of a public health intervention in urban India |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=119 |issue=30 |at=e2120742119 |pmc=9335263 |pmid=35862454 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2120742119 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2022PNAS..11920742A |issn=0027-8424}} A randomized controlled field trial involving 24,702 people in 176 villages in Honduras published in 2024 documented social contagion in diverse health behaviors to two degrees of separation.{{Cite journal |last1=Airoldi |first1=Edoardo M. |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |date=May 3, 2024 |title=Induction of social contagion for diverse outcomes in structured experiments in isolated villages |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi5147 |journal=Science |volume=384 |issue=6695 |pages=eadi5147 |doi=10.1126/science.adi5147 |pmid=38696582 |bibcode=2024Sci...384i5147A |issn=0036-8075}}

Christakis and colleagues also published a series of papers exploring how experimental manipulation of social network structure itself might enhance human welfare. Early work, starting in 2011, focused on how experimental manipulation of network structure could enhance human cooperation and economic productivity. Other work explored how network topology could affect human communication during a time of crisis{{Cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=Hirokazu |last2=Crawford |first2=Forrest W. |last3=Christakis |first3=Nicholas A. |date=May 27, 2020 |title=Collective communication and behaviour in response to uncertain 'Danger' in network experiments |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |volume=476 |issue=2237 |pages=20190685 |doi=10.1098/rspa.2019.0685 |pmc=7277132 |pmid=32518501|bibcode=2020RSPSA.47690685S }} or could optimize resource sharing.{{Cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=Hirokazu |last2=Iosifidis |first2=George |last3=Tassiulas |first3=Leandros |last4=Christakis |first4=Nicholas A. |date=March 6, 2019 |title=Resource sharing in technologically defined social networks |journal=Nature Communications |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=1079 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10.1079S |doi=10.1038/s41467-019-08935-2 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=6403336 |pmid=30842424 |s2cid=71144947 |doi-access=free}} A 2019 paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) showed that experimentally re-wiring social networks could enhance human welfare without either redistributing or increasing resources.{{Cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=Hirokazu |last2=Iosifidis |first2=George |last3=Christakis |first3=Nicholas A. |date=November 5, 2019 |title=Assortative mixing and resource inequality enhance collective welfare in sharing networks |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=116 |issue=45 |pages=22442–22444 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1911606116 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=6842617 |pmid=31636181|bibcode=2019PNAS..11622442S |doi-access=free }} Additionally, an observational study of a novel monetary system (Sardex, a complementary currency introduced during the 2010 financial crisis) showed that k-cycle centrality was associated with economic success at the level of individual firms or the system as a whole.{{Cite journal |last1=Iosifidis |first1=George |last2=Charette |first2=Yanick |last3=Airoldi |first3=Edoardo M. |last4=Littera |first4=Giuseppe |last5=Tassiulas |first5=Leandros |last6=Christakis |first6=Nicholas A. |date=November 2018 |title=Cyclic motifs in the Sardex monetary network |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0450-0 |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |volume=2 |issue=11 |pages=822–829 |doi=10.1038/s41562-018-0450-0 |pmid=31558815 |s2cid=53087039 |issn=2397-3374}}

In 2009, Christakis' group began to study the evolutionary biology, genetics, and physiology of social networks, publishing in PNAS a finding that social network position may be partially heritable, and specifically that an increase in twins' shared genetic material corresponds to differences in their social networks.{{cite journal |last1=Fowler |first1=J.H. |last2=Dawes |first2=C.T. |last3=Christakis |first3=N.A. |title=Model of Genetic Variation in Human Social Networks |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=106 |issue=6| pages=1720–1724 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0806746106 |pmid=19171900 |pmc=2644104 |date=February 2009| arxiv=0807.3089 |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.1720F |doi-access=free}} In 2011, a follow-up paper on "Correlated Genotypes in Friendship Networks" in PNAS advanced the argument that humans may be metagenomic with respect to the people around them.{{Cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.1011687108 |pmid=21245293 |pmc=3033315 |title=Correlated genotypes in friendship networks |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=108 |issue=5 |pages=1993–1997 |year=2011 |last1=Fowler |first1=James H. |last2=Settle |first2=Jaime E. |last3=Christakis |first3=Nicholas A. |bibcode=2011PNAS..108.1993F |doi-access=free}} Further work on this topic included "Friendship and Natural Selection" in PNAS in 2014, showing that people have a small but discernible preference for choosing as their friends other people who resemble them roughly as much as third or fourth cousins.{{cite journal |title=Friendship and natural selection |first=Nicholas A. |last=Christakis |doi=10.1073/pnas.1400825111 |pmid=25024208 |pmc=4113922 |volume=111 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |pages=10796–10801 |year=2014 |issue=Suppl 3 |arxiv=1308.5257 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111S0796C |doi-access=free}} In 2012, in a paper in Nature, Christakis' group analyzed the social networks of the Hadza hunter-gatherers, showing that human social network structure appears to have ancient origins.{{Cite journal | doi=10.1038/nature10736| pmid=22281599| pmc=3340565| title=Social networks and cooperation in hunter-gatherers| journal=Nature| volume=481| issue=7382| pages=497–501| year=2012| last1=Apicella| first1=Coren L.| last2=Marlowe| first2=Frank W.| last3=Fowler| first3=James H.| last4=Christakis| first4=Nicholas A.| bibcode=2012Natur.481..497A}} Anthropologist Joseph Henrich noted that "the crucial insight from this work is that understanding distinct aspects of cooperation among these hunter-gatherers must incorporate an analysis of the dynamic processes at the population level."{{Cite journal |last=Henrich |first=Joseph |date=January 2012 |title=Hunter-gatherer cooperation |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/481449a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=481 |issue=7382 |pages=449–450 |doi=10.1038/481449a |pmid=22281588 |s2cid=205069663 |issn=1476-4687}} Christakis and his colleagues did similar work mapping the networks of the Nyangatom people of Sudan in 2016.{{Cite journal |last1=Glowacki |first1=Luke |last2=Isakov |first2=Alexander |last3=Wrangham |first3=Richard W. |last4=McDermott |first4=Rose |last5=Fowler |first5=James H. |last6=Christakis |first6=Nicholas A. |date=October 25, 2016 |title=Formation of raiding parties for intergroup violence is mediated by social network structure|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=113 |issue=43 |pages=12114–12119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1610961113 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=27790996 |pmc=5086992 |bibcode=2016PNAS..11312114G |doi-access=free}} His group has also demonstrated that social networks are deeply related to human cooperation. These ideas are explored in Christakis' 2019 book, Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.

Work on the physiology of social networks, in particular with respect to the microbiome, started to appear in 2024, in Nature.{{Cite journal |last1=Beghini |first1=Francesco |last2=Pullman |first2=Jackson |last3=Alexander |first3=Marcus |last4=Shridhar |first4=Shivkumar Vishnempet |last5=Prinster |first5=Drew |last6=Singh |first6=Adarsh |last7=Matute Juárez |first7=Rigoberto |last8=Airoldi |first8=Edoardo M. |last9=Brito |first9=Ilana L. |last10=Christakis |first10=Nicholas A. |date=November 20, 2024 |title=Gut microbiome strain-sharing within isolated village social networks |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08222-1 |journal=Nature |volume=637 |issue=8044 |pages=167–175 |doi=10.1038/s41586-024-08222-1 |pmid=39567691 |issn=1476-4687}} Computational biologist Nicola Segata observed that understanding the spread of the microbiome through the social network is "changing completely the way we think", because such spread suggests that conditions with links to the microbiome (such as hypertension, depression, and obesity) could spread from person to person due to biological contagion.{{Cite journal |last=Sidik |first=Saima |date=November 20, 2024 |title=Your friends shape your microbiome — and so do their friends |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03804-5 |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/d41586-024-03804-5|pmid=39567823 }}

Beginning in 2010, Christakis' lab initiated a program of research to deploy social networks to improve welfare, health, and diverse other social phenomena—for example, facilitating the adoption of public health innovations in the developing world (e.g., India, Honduras),{{Cite journal|last1=Kim|first1=David A.|last2=Hwong|first2=Alison R.|last3=Stafford|first3=Derek|last4=Hughes|first4=D. Alex|last5=O'Malley|first5=A. James |last6=Fowler|first6=James H.|last7=Christakis|first7=Nicholas A.|date=July 11, 2015|title=Social network targeting to maximise population behaviour change: a cluster randomised controlled trial|url= |journal=The Lancet |volume=386|issue=9989|pages=145–153|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60095-2|issn=0140-6736|pmc=4638320|pmid=25952354}}{{Cite journal |last1=Alexander |first1=Marcus |last2=Forastiere |first2=Laura |last3=Gupta |first3=Swati |last4=Christakis |first4=Nicholas A. |date=July 26, 2022 |title=Algorithms for seeding social networks can enhance the adoption of a public health intervention in urban India |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=119 |issue=30 |at=e2120742119 |bibcode=2022PNAS..11920742A |doi=10.1073/pnas.2120742119 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=9335263 |pmid=35862454}} understanding the origins of economic inequality (published in Nature in 2015), or demonstrating the utility of autonomous agents (AI "bots") in optimizing coordination in groups (published in Nature in 2017). Economist Simon Gächter noted that "the most striking insight from these findings [in 2015] is the effect of wealth visibility on the dynamics of inequality: conspicuous inequality breeds more inequality. Although visibility of wealth does not change economic incentives in this experimental scenario, it invites social comparisons that... undermine cooperation and diminish social ties."{{Cite journal |last=Gächter |first=Simon |date=October 2015 |title=Visible inequality breeds more inequality |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/526333a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=526 |issue=7573 |pages=333–334 |doi=10.1038/526333a |pmid=26469042 |s2cid=205086455 |issn=1476-4687}} Gachter also commented on the 2017 paper and its contributions to evolutionary game theory.{{Cite journal |last=Gächter |first=Simon |date=May 2017 |title=Occasional errors can benefit coordination |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/545297a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=545 |issue=7654 |pages=297–298 |doi=10.1038/545297a |pmid=28516921 |s2cid=205094047 |issn=1476-4687}}

The 2017 paper on bots initiated a program of work on "hybrid systems" composed of humans and machines (endowed with AI) that reshape how humans interact not with the machines, but with each other. A 2020 paper in PNAS extended this idea by showing that physical robots could modify conversations among people interacting in groups.{{Cite journal |last1=Traeger |first1=Margaret L. |last2=Strohkorb Sebo |first2=Sarah |last3=Jung |first3=Malte |last4=Scassellati |first4=Brian |last5=Christakis |first5=Nicholas A. |date=March 9, 2020 |title=Vulnerable robots positively shape human conversational dynamics in a human–robot team |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=117 |issue=12 |pages=6370–6375 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1910402117 |pmid=32152118 |pmc=7104178 |bibcode=2020PNAS..117.6370T |issn=0027-8424 |doi-access=free}} Another paper that year showed that simply programmed bots could re-engineer social connections among humans in networked groups in order to make them become more cooperative.{{Cite journal |date=September 25, 2020 |title=Network Engineering Using Autonomous Agents Increases Cooperation in Human Groups |journal=iScience |volume=23 |issue=9 |pages=101438 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2020.101438 |issn=2589-0042 |doi-access=free |last1=Shirado |first1=Hirokazu |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |pmid=32823053 |pmc=7452167 |bibcode=2020iSci...23j1438S}} A 2023 paper in PNAS showed that simple forms of AI could change humans' ethical behavior towards others (using a cyber-physical lab experiment involving remote-control robotic cars playing the game of chicken).{{Cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=Hirokazu |last2=Kasahara |first2=Shunichi |last3=Christakis |first3=Nicholas A. |date=December 19, 2023 |title=Emergence and collapse of reciprocity in semiautomatic driving coordination experiments with humans |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=120 |issue=51 |pages=e2307804120 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2307804120 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=10743379 |pmid=38079552|bibcode=2023PNAS..12007804S }} A 2024 paper showed that a kind of simple bot could enhance the creativity of human groups.{{Cite journal |last1=Ueshima |first1=Atsushi |last2=Jones |first2=Matthew I. |last3=Christakis |first3=Nicholas A. |date=June 18, 2024 |title=Simple autonomous agents can enhance creative semantic discovery by human groups |journal=Nature Communications |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=5212 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-49528-y |pmid=38890368 |pmc=11189566 |bibcode=2024NatCo..15.5212U |issn=2041-1723}} Christakis argued in 2019 that "the effects of AI on human-to-human interaction stand to be intense and far-reaching, and the advances rapid and broad. We must investigate systematically what second-order effects might emerge and discuss how to regulate them on behalf of the common good".{{Cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/robots-human-relationships/583204/ |title=How AI Will Rewire Us |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |date=March 4, 2019 |website=The Atlantic |access-date=May 21, 2019}}

Christakis' lab has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Pioneer Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and by other funders. In 2019, his lab received support to extend their work to studies of the human microbiota from the Nomis Foundation.{{Cite web |url=https://nomisfoundation.ch/news/yale-news-new-yale-led-project-looks-at-the-microbiome-social-network-connection/ |title=Yale News: "New Yale-led project looks at the microbiome-social network connection" |last=Stoeter |first=Sarah |website=The NOMIS Foundation |date=January 11, 2019 |access-date=May 12, 2019}}

Christakis has practiced as a home hospice physician and in consultative palliative medicine. He took care of indigent, home-bound, dying patients in the South Side of Chicago while at the University of Chicago, from 1995 to 2001.{{Cite web|title = Prognosis:Death|url = http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/prognosis-death/Content?oid=901522|website = The Chicago Reader |publisher=www.chicagoreader.com |access-date = November 19, 2015|last = Sharlet|first = Jeff|date = February 24, 2000}} During this time, he was also active in translating research results into national policy changes with respect to end-of-life care in the USA; for instance, he testified before the US Senate Special Committee on Aging in 2000 (regarding barriers to hospice use, prognostication, and the cost-effectiveness of hospice).{{Cite web|url=https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/publications/9182000.pdf|title=Hearing Before the Special Committee on Aging -- Serial No. 106-37|date=September 18, 2000}}

Christakis has worked with terminally ill patients and their families as an attending physician on the Palliative Medicine Consult Service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston{{cite journal |last1=Lamont |first1=Elizabeth B. |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |title=Complexities in Prognostication in Advanced Cancer: "To Help Them Live Their Lives the Way They Want to" |journal=JAMA |date=July 2, 2003 |volume=290 |issue=1 |pages=98–104 |doi=10.1001/jama.290.1.98 |pmid=12837717 |url=https://dash.lib.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33839956/JEL30001.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}} and at Mount Auburn Hospital. He is currently associated with the Yale School of Medicine.{{cite web |title=Nicholas Christakis, MD, MPH, PhD |url=https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/nicholas-christakis/ |website=Yale School of Medicine}}

Christakis' first book, Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1999 ({{ISBN|978-0226104706}}), and has been translated into Japanese. The book, based on his dissertation, explored the role of prognosis in medical thought and practice, documenting and explaining how physicians are socialized to avoid making prognoses. It argues that the prognoses patients receive, even from the best-trained American doctors, are driven not only by professional norms but also by religious, moral, and even quasi-magical beliefs (such as the "self-fulfilling prophecy").{{cite journal |last1=Preodor |first1=Michael |title=Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care (review) |journal=Perspectives in Biology and Medicine |date=2000 |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=629–631 |doi=10.1353/pbm.2000.0051 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/26009/pdf |access-date=February 1, 2025 |issn=1529-8795}}{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Owen C. |last2=Mertens |first2=Mayli |title=Self-fulfilling Prophecy in Practical and Automated Prediction |journal=Ethical Theory and Moral Practice |date=March 1, 2023 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=127–152 |doi=10.1007/s10677-022-10359-9 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-022-10359-9 |access-date=February 1, 2025 |issn=1572-8447}}{{cite journal |last1=Rich |first1=Ben A. |title=Book Reviews: Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care. Nicholas A. Christakis. (2000). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 199 pp.(hardcover). |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1016668201888 |journal=Journal of Medical Humanities |access-date=February 1, 2025 |pages=247–249 |doi=10.1023/A:1016668201888 |date=September 1, 2001|volume=22 |issue=3 }}

His second book, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, was co-authored with James Fowler and published by Little, Brown Spark in 2009 ({{ISBN|978-0316036146}}).{{cite journal |last1=Hall |first1=Meara H. |title=A Review of: "Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler. Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.": New York: Little & Brown, 2009, 338 pp., ISBN No. 978-0-316-03614-6 (Hardback). |journal=Mass Communication and Society |date=June 3, 2010 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=338–340 |doi=10.1080/15205431003747118 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15205431003747118 |issn=1520-5436}}{{Cite web |last=Carpenter |first=Derrick |date=April 28, 2010 |title=Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (Book Review) |url=https://infosystemsllc.com/?cuf5ff53kl6c73eqchig |access-date=February 1, 2025 |website=Positive Psychology News}} It was awarded the "Books for a Better Life" Award in 2009 and has been translated into 20 languages.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookreporter.com/features/awards/books-for-a-better-life-awards-2009|title=Books for a Better Life Awards 2009 {{!}} Bookreporter.com|website=www.bookreporter.com|access-date=June 9, 2018}} Connected draws on previously published and unpublished studies and makes several new conclusions about the influence of social networks on human health and behavior. In Connected, Christakis and Fowler put forward their "three degrees of influence" rule, which theorizes that each person's social influence can stretch to roughly three degrees of separation (to the friend of a friend of a friend) before it fades out.[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/magazine/13contagion-t.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1&em Clive Tomson, "Is Happiness Catching,"] The New York Times, September 14, 2009.{{cite journal|last1=Christakis|first1=Nicholas A.|year=2012|title=Social contagion theory: examining dynamic social networks and human behavior|journal=Statistics in Medicine|volume=32|issue=4|pages=556–577|doi=10.1002/sim.5408|pmid=22711416|pmc=3830455|arxiv=1109.5235}}

Christakis' third book, Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, was published by Little, Brown Spark in 2019 ({{ISBN|978-0316230032}}).{{Cite news|url=https://www.littlebrownspark.com/contributor/nicholas-a-christakis/|title=Nicholas A. Christakis|date=June 27, 2017|work=Hachette Book Group|access-date=June 9, 2018}} It made The New York Times Best Seller list in its debut week.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2019/04/14/hardcover-nonfiction/|title=Hardcover Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers – April 14, 2019 - The New York Times|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 27, 2019|issn=0362-4331}} It was widely and favorably reviewed.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/blueprint-review-bending-toward-goodness-11556146054|title='Blueprint' Review: Bending Toward Goodness|last=Barash|first=David P.|date=April 24, 2019|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=May 12, 2019|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/05/04/two-books-explore-the-evolutionary-origins-of-morality|title=Two books explore the evolutionary origins of morality|date=May 2, 2019|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=May 12, 2019|issn=0013-0613}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/books/review/nicholas-christakis-blueprint-origins-society.html|title=The Benevolent Power of Other People|last=Prasad|first=Aarathi|date=May 10, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 12, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite journal|last=Fuentes|first=Agustín|date=March 19, 2019|title=Evolving society: why humanity coheres|journal=Nature|volume=567|issue=7748|pages=308–309|doi=10.1038/d41586-019-00873-9|bibcode=2019Natur.567..308F|doi-access=free}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/nicholas-christakis-the-yale-professor-who-stood-up-to-the-mob-pzqqpx3zt|title=Nicholas Christakis — the Yale professor who stood up to the mob|last=Billen|first=Andrew|date=April 3, 2019|work=The Times|access-date=July 28, 2019|issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/26/bill-gates-recommends-reading-blueprint.html|title=Bill Gates has a new favorite book that is 'optimistic and terrific'|last=Elkins|first=Kathleen|date=July 27, 2019|website=CNBC|access-date=July 28, 2019}} For instance, Bill Gates described the book as "optimistic and terrific." Blueprint explores the idea that evolution has given humans a suite of beneficial capacities, including love, friendship, social networks, cooperation, and learning; humans have innate proclivities to make a good society, one that is similar worldwide. "For too long," Christakis writes, "the scientific community has been overly focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for tribalism, violence, selfishness, and cruelty. The bright side has been denied the attention it deserves."{{cite web|title=The 'Sick' Professor and our Better Angels|url= https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2019/10/11/the-sick-professor-and-our-better-angels |website=The Attic|access-date=November 5, 2019}} Overall, Blueprint advances an argument about sociodicy, that is, the "vindication of society despite its failures". It proposes a list of eight attributes of societies that are innately favored due to human evolutionary history.

Christakis' fourth book, Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live, was published by Little, Brown Spark in October 2020 ({{ISBN|978-0316628228}}).{{Cite book|url=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/nicholas-a-christakis-md-phd/apollos-arrow/9780316628228/|title=Apollo's Arrow|date=May 26, 2020|isbn=9780316628228 |last1=Christakis |first1=Nicholas A. |publisher=Little, Brown }} It was widely and favorably reviewed{{Cite news|last=Quammen|first=David|date=November 3, 2020|title=The Pandemic's Future — and Ours|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/books/review/apollos-arrow-coronavirus-nicholas-christakis.html|access-date=December 26, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nicholas-christakis/apollos-arrow/|title=APOLLO'S ARROW {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en}}{{Cite news|title=Review {{!}} The virus isn't transforming us. It's speeding up the changes already underway.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/12/18/coronavirus-great-acceleration-changes-society/|access-date=December 29, 2020|newspaper=Washington Post}}{{Cite web|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live by Nicholas A. Christakis. Little Brown Spark, $29 (288p) ISBN 978-0-316-62821-1|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-316-62821-1|access-date=December 29, 2020|website=PublishersWeekly.com}}{{Cite news |title=How will covid-19 change the world? |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2021/01/02/how-will-covid-19-change-the-world |access-date=July 24, 2022 |issn=0013-0613}} and was called "magisterial",{{Cite web|title=Apollo's Arrow by Nicholas A. Christakis book review {{!}} The TLS|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/apollos-arrow-nicholas-christakis-book-review/|access-date=December 26, 2020|website=TLS}} "gripping",{{Cite web|title=Review: 'Apollo's Arrow,' by Nicholas A. Christakis|url=https://www.startribune.com/review-apollo-s-arrow-by-nicholas-a-christakis/573065272/|access-date=December 26, 2020|website=Star Tribune|date=November 13, 2020 }} and "provocative".{{Cite web|first=Samuel V.|last=Scarpino|date=November 17, 2020|title=The pandemic is as much about society, leaders, and values as it is about a pathogen|url=https://blogs.sciencemag.org/books/2020/11/17/apollos-arrow/|access-date=December 26, 2020|website=Books, Et Al.|language=en-US}} It was long-listed for the PEN America EO Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.{{Cite web|date=December 22, 2020|title=Announcing the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards Longlists|url=https://pen.org/literary-awards/2021-pen-america-longlists/|access-date=December 26, 2020|website=PEN America|language=en}} Apollo's Arrow provides an account of the origins and course of the COVID-19 pandemic and its end, biologically and socially (in what Christakis has compared to the Roaring Twenties of the 20th century). In essence, the book argues that "plagues are not new to our species — they are just new to us".{{Cite web|date=December 21, 2020|title=Epidemiologist looks to the past to predict second post-pandemic 'roaring 20s'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/21/epidemiologist-1918-flu-pandemic-roaring-20s-post-covid|access-date=December 26, 2020|website=the Guardian}}

Christakis has also co-edited two clinical textbooks on end-of-life care: Prognosis in advanced cancer (2008) and the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine (2009), both published by Oxford University Press.{{cite book |editor-last1=Glare |editor-first1=Paul |editor-last2=Christakis |editor-first2=Nicholas A |title=Prognosis in advanced cancer |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford ; New York |isbn=9780198530220 |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/prognosis-in-advanced-cancer-9780198530220?cc=us&lang=en&}}{{cite book |editor-last1=Hanks |editor-first1=G. |editor-last2=Cherny |editor-first2=N. |editor-last3=Christakis |editor-first3=N. |editor-last4=Fallon |editor-first4=M. |editor-last5=Kaasa |editor-first5=S. |editor-last6=Portenoy |editor-first6=R. |title=Oxford textbook of palliative medicine |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199693146 |edition=4th}}

In addition to his scientific research and books, Christakis has contributed to popular media as a public intellectual, in a range of publications and on a range of topics. He has said he is invested in "advancing the public understanding of science",{{Cite web |date=March 12, 2021 |title=Living Through the Pandemic: A Review One Year Later |url=https://www.governing.com/context/Living-Through-the-Pandemic-A-Review-One-Year-Later.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |website=Governing}} and he typically writes about matters at the intersection of the social, biological, and/or computational sciences.{{cite web |last1=Stowers |first1=Ryan |title=An Interview with Yale's Nicholas Christakis – CKF |url=https://charleskochfoundation.org/stories/an-interview-with-yale-universitys-nicholas-christakis/ |website=Charles Koch Foundation |date=November 9, 2021}}

For instance, in addition to his book about the COVID-19 pandemic, Apollo's Arrow, released in 2020, Christakis published numerous essays helping to advance understanding of the social, economic, psychological, and epidemiological aspects of the pandemic. In The Wall Street Journal, he forecast the long course of the pandemic in 2020,{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |date=October 16, 2020 |title=The Long Shadow of the Pandemic: 2024 and Beyond |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-long-shadow-of-the-pandemic-2024-and-beyond-11602860214 |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0099-9660}} outlined optimal responses,{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |date=November 13, 2020 |title=How the Swiss Cheese Model Can Help Us Beat Covid-19 |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-swiss-cheese-model-can-help-us-beat-covid-19-11605283134 |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0099-9660}} and provided a kind of post-mortem in 2024 (outlining how the pandemic would leave us with "public forgetting and private remembrance").{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |title=Essay {{!}} Four Years Later, Covid Isn't Done with Us |url=https://www.wsj.com/us-news/four-years-later-covid-isnt-done-with-us-280a7cf1 |access-date=March 9, 2024 |work=WSJ}} In The Washington Post, he wrote about the role of compassion during epidemics.{{Cite news |title=Opinion {{!}} Compassion in the time of coronavirus |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/11/compassion-time-coronavirus/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0190-8286}} In The Atlantic, he wrote about school closures,{{Cite web |last=Christakis |first=Erika Christakis, Nicholas A. |date=March 16, 2020 |title=Closing the Schools Is Not the Only Option |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-closing-schools-not-only-option/608056/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=The Atlantic}} risk perception,{{Cite web |last=Christakis |first=Soham Sankaran, Jacob Derechin, Nicholas A. |date=April 11, 2021 |title=Beach Photos Give People the Wrong Idea |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/beach-photos-confuse-people-about-how-covid-19-spreads/618560/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=The Atlantic}} and public health responses.{{Cite web |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |date=October 20, 2021 |title=Sometimes Altruism Needs to Be Enforced |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/pandemic-altruism-selflessness-punishment/620427/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=The Atlantic}} In FiveThirtyEight, he showed how voting in the primary elections did not worsen the course of the pandemic.{{Cite web |last=Feltham |first=Eric |date=October 15, 2020 |title=Voting in the 2020 Primaries Didn't Worsen the COVID-19 Pandemic |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/voting-in-primaries-didnt-worsen-the-covid-19-pandemic/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=FiveThirtyEight}} Early in the pandemic (in August 2020), he wrote an invited essay for The Economist about how intrinsic properties of SARS-CoV-2 would make the COVID-19 pandemic more challenging to fight.{{Cite news |title=Nicholas Christakis on fighting covid-19 by truly understanding the virus |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2020/08/10/nicholas-christakis-on-fighting-covid-19-by-truly-understanding-the-virus |access-date=July 24, 2022 |issn=0013-0613}} The magazine relied on him for subsequent assessments of the long-term impact of the pandemic.{{Cite news |title=The long goodbye to covid-19 |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/07/03/the-long-goodbye-to-covid-19 |access-date=July 24, 2022 |issn=0013-0613}} In an interview for The Atlantic, Christakis also discussed the importance of free expression in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web |last=Friedersdorf |first=Conor |date=April 10, 2020 |title=Hospitals Must Let Doctors and Nurses Speak Out |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-are-hospitals-censoring-doctors-and-nurses/609766/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=The Atlantic}}

For The New York Times, Christakis has written on prognostication,{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |date=August 24, 2007 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Bad News First |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/opinion/24christakis.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} university education,{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |date=July 30, 2015 |title=Making Friends in New Places |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/education/edlife/making-friends-in-new-places.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} free expression,{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |date=June 22, 2016 |title=Teaching Inclusion in a Divided World |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/education/teaching-inclusion-in-a-divided-world.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} and the evolution of social sciences.{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |date=July 19, 2013 |title=Opinion {{!}} Let's Shake Up the Social Sciences |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/lets-shake-up-the-social-sciences.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} His essay on social science was said to have "created quite a stir", and it prompted debate and commentary.{{Cite web |date=October 9, 2014 |title=Do the social sciences need a shake-up? |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/do-the-social-sciences-need-a-shake-up/2016165.article |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Times Higher Education}}{{Cite web |date=October 21, 2014 |title=Do We Need to Shake Up the Social Sciences? |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/theforum/do-we-need-to-shake-up-the-social-sciences/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Forum for Philosophy}} For The Washington Post, he has written not only about COVID but also on mass shootings{{Cite news |last1=Christakis |first1=Erika L. |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. |date=September 19, 2013 |title=Navy Yard shootings: What role does social isolation play in mass killings? |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/navy-yard-shootings-what-role-does-social-isolation-play-in-mass-killings/2013/09/19/17a2c148-207d-11e3-b7d1-7153ad47b549_story.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0190-8286}} and fatherhood.{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |date=June 18, 2022 |title=In some cultures, multiple fathers—or no fathers at all—are the norm |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/06/17/fathers-day-adoption-biological/ |access-date=June 18, 2022}} For the Boston Review, with respect to inequality, he argued that recent research showed that "the luxuries of others matter if we can see them".{{Cite journal |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |date=October 22, 2015 |title=The Lure of Luxury |url=https://www.bostonreview.net/forum_response/nicholas-christakis-christakis-response-lure-luxury/ |journal=The Boston Review}} He has also written about how to "construct novel, unnatural social systems based on the predictable ways that humans act" for The Boston Globe;{{Cite web |last=Arbesman |first=Samuel |title=Introducing the human computer – The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/06/16/introducing-human-computer/K7j1YK6MZYsB6qAhaqixrJ/story.html |access-date=September 21, 2022 |website=BostonGlobe.com}} the role of social artificial intelligence for The Atlantic;{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas A. |title=How AI Will Rewire Us |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/robots-human-relationships/583204/ |access-date=June 19, 2022}} and about social network dynamics for the Financial Times.{{Cite news |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |date=2012 |title=Americans Need to Leave the Deadbeats Behind |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/44ffccf2-78e1-11e1-9f49-00144feab49a |access-date=June 18, 2022}} He published an article in The Economist in 2023 on the social and economic spillover effects of AI, arguing that AI systems will change how humans treat each other.{{Cite news |title=We need to focus more on the social effects of AI, says Nicholas Christakis |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2023/12/15/we-need-to-focus-more-on-the-social-effects-of-ai-says-nicholas-christakis |access-date=December 22, 2023 |issn=0013-0613}}

In 2012, he wrote a series of online columns for Time with his wife, Erika Christakis, on a range of topics from academic dishonesty to women in the armed services.{{Cite magazine |title=Erika Christakis and Nicholas A. Christakis |url=https://ideas.time.com/contributor/erika-christakis-and-nicholas-a-christakis/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |magazine=Time |language=en-us}} For the same publication, in 2011, he wrote about biosocial science,{{Cite magazine |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |date=December 19, 2011 |title=Putting the Social into Science |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2101856,00.html |access-date=June 18, 2022}} and, in 2019, about the link between cooperation and individuality, arguing that such a perspective was useful "in a moment when too much tribalism is causing devastating problems".{{Cite magazine |title=Can Cultivating Individuality Draw Us Closer Together? |url=https://time.com/5563987/the-surprising-link-between-cooperation-and-individuality/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |magazine=Time}} In 2024, he argued that poor decision-making by corporate and nonprofit boards could partly be understood based on their internal network structure.{{Cite magazine |date=February 15, 2024 |title=What the Harvard and Boeing Boards Teach Us About Groupthink |url=https://time.com/6695016/harvard-boeing-boards-groupthink/ |access-date=March 10, 2024 |magazine=TIME}}

Christakis has also appeared periodically on TV and radio, commenting on social networks and social interactions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other matters, including on NPR,{{Cite web |date=September 25, 2009 |title=Exploring How We Connect, and What It Means |url=https://www.wyso.org/2009-09-25/exploring-how-we-connect-and-what-it-means |access-date=December 15, 2024 |website=WYSO}}{{Cite web |title=Nicholas Christakis: How Do Our Social Networks Affect Our Health? |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/03/04/468881321/how-do-our-social-networks-affect-our-health |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=NPR.org}}{{Cite news |title=The Enduring Impact of COVID-19: Fresh Air |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/10/26/927796954/the-enduring-impact-of-covid-19 |access-date=June 19, 2022}}{{Cite web |title=You Share Your Gut Microbiome with Your Friends |url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/you-share-your-gut-microbiome-with-your-friends/ |access-date=December 15, 2024 |website=Science Friday}} Amanpour & Company,{{Cite web |title=Nicholas Christakis {{!}} Guest {{!}} Amanpour & Company {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/guests/nicholas-christakis/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Amanpour & Company}} and other venues. Krista Tippett of NPR has said his perspective on human goodness "deepens and refreshes".{{Cite web |title=Nicholas Christakis — How We're Wired for Goodness |url=https://onbeing.org/programs/nicholas-christakis-how-were-wired-for-goodness/ |access-date=June 30, 2022 |website=The On Being Project}} He has been featured in a number of documentaries about science, including Through the Wormhole,{{Citation |title=Are we all bigots (Through the wormhole, Discovery Science) Documentary with Morgan Freema – The Bes |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCmr0L6Sj7E |access-date=March 9, 2023}} Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?,{{Cite web |last=Vital Pictures |title=Unnatural Causes |url=https://unnaturalcauses.org/assets/uploads/file/UC_Transcript_1.pdf}} and This Emotional Life (on PBS).{{Cite web |title=This Emotional Life |url=https://www.gpb.org/television/show/emotional-life |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=Georgia Public Broadcasting}}{{Cite web |title=Crossroads |url=http://crossroadsfilm.com/ |access-date=March 9, 2023}} Interviews with Christakis have appeared in The New York Times,{{Cite news |last=Kolata |first=Gina |date=November 28, 2000 |title=A Conversation with: Nicholas Christakis; A Doctor with a Cause: 'What's My Prognosis?' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/28/health/conversation-with-nicholas-christakis-doctor-with-cause-what-s-my-prognosis.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Bruni |first=Frank |date=March 19, 2019 |title=Opinion {{!}} A 'Disgusting' Yale Professor Moves On |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/opinion/nicholas-christakis-yale.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} The Atlantic, and elsewhere.{{Cite web |date=March 12, 2021 |title=Living Through the Pandemic: A Review One Year Later |url=https://www.governing.com/context/Living-Through-the-Pandemic-A-Review-One-Year-Later.html |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Governing}} He has been a repeat guest on many leading podcasts, including Joe Rogan,{{Citation |title=#1274 - Nicholas Christakis |date=March 28, 2019 |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/6gtoA62BKsLO0TsSu8Y0XF |language=en |access-date=June 19, 2022}}{{Citation |title=#1566 – Nicholas Christakis |date=November 18, 2020 |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/56GQu5rohL5cWpByTDPTRu |access-date=June 19, 2022}} Sam Harris,{{Cite web |title=#100 — Facing the Crowd |url=https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/100-facing-crowd |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Sam Harris}}{{Citation |title=How Should We Respond to Coronavirus: A Conversation with Nicholas Christakis (Episode #190) | date=March 10, 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwE0ldRtwGA |access-date=June 19, 2022}}{{Citation |title=A Pandemic of Incompetence: A Conversation with Nicholas Christakis (Episode #222) | date=October 28, 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hnxUrD_7R0 |language=en |access-date=June 19, 2022}} Michael Shermer,{{Citation |title=Michael Shermer with Nicholas A. Christakis — Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society | date=April 2, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vgx7E16_qk |language=en |access-date=June 19, 2022}}{{Citation |title=Michael Shermer with Nicholas Christakis — Profound & Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on How We Live | date=November 17, 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-7wzIqmSUI |language=en |access-date=June 19, 2022}} and Reason.{{Cite web |date=April 7, 2019 |title=Are Humans Predisposed by Evolution to Get Along?: Podcast |url=https://reason.com/2019/04/07/are-humans-predisposed-by-evolution-to-g/ |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Reason.com}}

Christakis has given two mainstage TED talks,{{Citation |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |title=The hidden influence of social networks |date=May 10, 2010 |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks |access-date=June 19, 2022}}{{Citation |last=Christakis |first=Nicholas |title=How social networks predict epidemics |date=September 16, 2010 |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_how_social_networks_predict_epidemics |access-date=June 19, 2022}} appeared at the Aspen Ideas Festival,{{Cite web |title=Aspen Times Weekly June 28 edition by Aspen Times Weekly|url=https://issuu.com/theaspentimes/docs/atw6-28 |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=issuu.com |date=June 27, 2012}} and been a frequent contributor to the online salon of leading scientists and intellectuals Edge, including answering ten of its annual questions, from 2009 to 2019{{Cite web |title=Nicholas A. Christakis {{!}} Edge.org |url=https://www.edge.org/memberbio/nicholas_a_christakis |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=edge.org}} and giving talks on how "social networks are like the eye" in 2008,{{Cite web |title=Social Networks Are Like the Eye {{!}} Edge.org |url=https://www.edge.org/conversation/nicholas_a_christakis-social-networks-are-like-the-eye |access-date=September 29, 2022 |website=edge.org}} on "a new kind of social science for the 21st century" in 2012,{{Cite web |title=A New Kind of Social Science for the 21st Century {{!}} Edge.org |url=https://www.edge.org/conversation/nicholas_a_christakis-a-new-kind-of-social-science-for-the-21st-century |access-date=September 29, 2022 |website=edge.org}} and on the science of social connections in 2013.{{Cite web |title=Nicholas Christakis: The Science of Social Connections (HeadCon '13 Part V) {{!}} Edge.org |url=https://www.edge.org/panel/nicholas-christakis-the-science-of-social-connections-headcon-13-part-v |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=edge.org}}

Christakis has been involved in the defense of free expression for some time. At Harvard in 2012, he and his wife came to the defense of minority students who were using satire to criticize the elite final clubs at that institution. They suggested that the critics might be "more concerned with ugly words than the underlying problems" and that policing free expression on campus "denies students the opportunity to learn to think for themselves."{{cite magazine|url=https://ideas.time.com/2012/12/04/wither-goes-free-speech-at-harvard/ |title=Whither Goes Free Speech at Harvard? |magazine=Time |date=December 4, 2012 |access-date=July 13, 2016|last1=Christakis |first1=Erika |last2=Christakis |first2=Nicholas A. }} They argued that it was important for Harvard students to have confidence and to develop the capacity and maturity to discuss contentious issues, rather than staying silent.{{cite news |last1=Lukianoff |first1=Greg |title=Harvard and How Silence Isn't Golden |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/harvard-and-how-silence-i_b_3072123 |work=HuffPost |date=April 13, 2013}}

In April 2020, Christakis expressed concern that, in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and medical schools were seeking to silence faculty and staff who were highlighting problems with the response; he stated that "clamping down on people who are speaking is a kind of idiocy of the highest order."{{Cite news |last=Friedersdorf |first=Conor |date=April 10, 2020 |title=Hospitals Must Let Doctors and Nurses Speak Out |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-are-hospitals-censoring-doctors-and-nurses/609766/ |access-date=April 13, 2020}}

In July 2020, Christakis was one of the 153 signers of "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate" (also known as the "Harper's Letter") that expressed concern that "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted".{{Cite magazine |date=July 7, 2020 |title=A Letter on Justice and Open Debate {{!}} Harper's Magazine |url=https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/ |access-date=August 23, 2022 |magazine=Harper's Magazine}}

In 2021, Christakis was asked to join the advisory council of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).{{Cite web |title=FIRE's Advisory Council |url=https://www.thefire.org/about-us/advisory-council/ |access-date=March 3, 2022 |website=FIRE}} In 2022, he joined the advisory council of Heterodox Academy.{{Cite web |title=Our Advisory Council |url=https://heterodoxacademy.org/advisory-council/ |access-date=July 5, 2022 |website=Heterodox Academy}}

In 2023, Christakis was the recipient of the Silverglate Award for Championing Free Expression at the inaugural gala held by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in New York City.{{Cite web |title=SPEAKERS – Free Speech Makes Free People: Celebrating a New Era of FIRE |url=https://web.cvent.com/event/82b6e2cf-6fce-4e4e-8586-e3d7147fdf99/websitePage:bfd9922f-b4e1-4b60-9f4a-081a5414df7b |access-date=April 22, 2023 |website=web.cvent.com}}

In 2015, Christakis and his wife, Erika, were involved in a case arising from advice about Halloween costumes at Yale University. In October of that year, the Intercultural Affairs Council at Yale (a group of fourteen administrators) sent an email to undergraduates that recommended students be careful when choosing Halloween outfits, suggesting they avoid various sorts of costumes incorporating potentially offensive elements and including a link to a Pinterest page with recommended and non-recommended costumes.{{Cite web |date=October 27, 2015 |title=Email from the Intercultural Affairs Committee |url=https://www.thefire.org/email-from-intercultural-affairs/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=FIRE}}{{Cite web|title = The New Intolerance of Student Activism|url = https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-new-intolerance-of-student-activism-at-yale/414810/|website = The Atlantic|access-date = November 17, 2015|last = Friedersdorf|first = Conor|date = November 9, 2015}}{{Citation|title=Silence U Part 2: What Has Yale Become? {{!}} We the Internet Documentary|date=March 22, 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK4MBzp5YwM|access-date=March 23, 2017}} In response, Erika (a lecturer on early childhood education at the Yale Child Study Center) wrote an email on October 29 on the role of free expression in universities. She argued, from a developmental perspective, that students might wish to consider whether administrators should provide guidance on Halloween attire or whether students would prefer to "dress themselves". She noted that her husband's advice was that "if you don't like a costume someone is wearing, look away, or tell them you are offended. Talk to each other. Free speech and the ability to tolerate offense are the hallmarks of a free and open society".{{cite web|url=https://www.thefire.org/email-from-erika-christakis-dressing-yourselves-email-to-silliman-college-yale-students-on-halloween-costumes/ | access-date=January 6, 2016 | title=Dressing Yourselves| date=October 30, 2015 }}

This e-mail played a role in protests on campus that received national attention in the United States.{{Cite news|title = Yale's Halloween Advice Stokes a Racially Charged Debate|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/nyregion/yale-culturally-insensitive-halloween-costumes-free-speech.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = November 8, 2015|access-date = November 17, 2015|issn = 0362-4331|first = Liam|last = Stack}} Christakis and his wife were criticized by some students for placing "the burden of confrontation, education, and maturity on the offended".{{Cite web|title = The Problem with Vilifying the Yale Student Activists|url = https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/encouraging-cultural-sensitivity-isnt-censorship/415185/|website = The Atlantic|access-date = November 17, 2015|last = White|first = Gillian|date = November 10, 2015}} Other students, however, pointed out that Erika Christakis was defending the rights to free expression of all Yale students and expressing confidence in them and in their capacity to discuss and confront such issues among themselves.{{cite web|url=https://www.thefire.org/yale-students-demand-resignations-from-faculty-members-over-halloween-email/ |title=Yale Students Demand Resignations from Faculty Members Over Halloween Email |publisher=fire.org |date= November 6, 2015|access-date=November 19, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-new-intolerance-of-student-activism-at-yale/414810/ |title=The New Intolerance of Student Activism |website = The Atlantic |last = Friedersdorf|first = Conor |date= November 9, 2015|access-date=January 4, 2016}}

During the episode, some students "[asked President] Salovey to remove Nicholas and Erika Christakis from their positions at the helm of Silliman College", and, in a separate development, over 400 faculty members signed a letter on the broader issue of supporting "greater diversity".{{cite news |last1=Stanley-Becker |first1=Isaac |title=Minority students at Yale give list of demands to university president |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/11/13/minority-students-at-yale-give-list-of-demands-to-university-president/ |access-date=October 25, 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 13, 2015}} Ninety-one Yale faculty members signed a different letter supporting the Christakises, and this letter noted that the couple themselves distinguished support for freedom of expression from supporting the content of such expression (the Christakises had noted that they would find many of the same costumes offensive as some students would).{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Fa8lyQ17utjiw1LNkCoE22pvq2uRk_SVHHPmRgvpIA/edit?pli=1#heading=h.53s9msgj6b7 | access-date=January 4, 2016 | title=Letter of Support for Erika and Nicholas Christakis}} Christakis stepped down from his role at Silliman College eight months later, at the end of the academic year, a step The Atlantic later decried (noting "when Yale's history is written, they should be regarded as collateral damage harmed by people who abstracted away their humanity").{{cite news|last1=Friedersdorf|first1=Conor|title=The Perils of Writing a Provocative Email at Yale |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/the-peril-of-writing-a-provocative-email-at-yale/484418/|access-date=June 1, 2016|publisher=The Atlantic|date=May 26, 2016}}

In a subsequent op-ed in The New York Times (his only published comment on the events), Christakis argued: "Open, extended conversations among students themselves are essential not only to the pursuit of truth but also to deep moral learning and to righteous social progress."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/education/teaching-inclusion-in-a-divided-world.html?_r=0 |title=Teaching Inclusion in a Divided World |newspaper = The New York Times |last = Christakis|first = Nicholas |date= June 22, 2016|access-date=October 7, 2016}} A year later, commentators condemned how students, administrators, and faculty had behaved at Yale (and linked to substantial video footage of the events).{{cite web|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/213212/yale-favoring-cry-bullies|title=New Videos Show How Yale Betrayed Itself by Favoring Cry-Bullies|last=Kirchick|first=James|date=September 22, 2016|website=Tablet|access-date=September 23, 2016}} In her only published remarks regarding what happened, published a year later, in October 2016, Erika Christakis described the circumstances (including threats) that she had faced in an Op-Ed published in The Washington Post.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/my-halloween-email-led-to-a-campus-firestorm--and-a-troubling-lesson-about-self-censorship/2016/10/28/70e55732-9b97-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html|title=My Halloween email led to a campus firestorm|last=Christakis|first=Erika|date=October 28, 2016|access-date=October 29, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Alum James Kirchick and former dean of the Yale Law School Anthony T. Kronman have since criticized the university administration for abandoning or not supporting Christakis and his wife.{{Cite web |last=Turner |first=Samuel |date=September 5, 2019 |title=Former YLS dean reignites Calhoun conversation |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/09/05/former-yls-dean-reignites-calhoun-conversation/ |website=Yale Daily News}}

The incident led to some students being called members of "Generation Snowflake".Fox, Claire (2016) [https://books.google.com/books?id=r2DzCwAAQBAJ&q=%22generation+snowflake%27.+the+furore%22 "I find that offensive"], Biteback. In January 2016, Bill Maher expressed consternation at how the Yale students had behaved.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luhSVN5mgNY&t=146 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/luhSVN5mgNY |archive-date=December 15, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Martyrs Without a Cause|website=YouTube |date=January 22, 2016 }}{{cbignore}} In April 2017, an episode of The Simpsons titled "Caper Chase" satirized the events. Also in 2017, a short documentary was released about the episode, arguing that they reflected a collision between "old values" centered on reason and debate, on the one hand, and "administrative bloat" and a shift to a "consumer mentality" on the other (this documentary also noted that Christakis comes from a multi-racial family and has African-American and Chinese siblings). The New York Times published a coda regarding the episode in August 2018, upon Christakis' appointment as a Sterling Professor, Yale's highest faculty rank.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/nyregion/yale-professor-protests-christakis-honored-sterling.html|title=Once at Center of Yale Protests, Professor Wins the School's Highest Honor|work=The New York Times |date=August 14, 2018 |access-date=August 16, 2018 |last1=Wang |first1=Vivian }}

The case has been discussed in at least twenty nonfiction books.

• {{Cite book |title=Campus Speech in Crisis: What the Yale Experience Can Teach America |last=Cabranes |first=J |publisher=Encounter Books |year=2017 |location=New York }}
• {{Cite book |title=Reckoning with Race: America's Failure |last=Dattel |first=G |publisher=Encounter Books |year=2017 |location=New York }}
• {{Cite book |title=I Find that Offensive |last=Fox |first=C |publisher=Biteback |year=2017 |location=London }}
• {{Cite book |title=What's Happened to the University? A Sociological Exploration of Its Infantalisation |last=Furedi |first=F |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |location=London }}
• {{Cite book |title=Political Correctness and the Destruction of Social Order |last=Schwartz |first=HS |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2016 |location=London }}
• {{Cite book |title=Free Speech on Campus |last=Ben-Porath |first=Sigal |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2017 |location=Philadelphia }}
• {{Cite book |title=Free speech on campus |last1=Chemerinsky |first1=Erwin |last2=Gillman |first2=Howard |isbn=9780300226560 |location=New Haven |oclc=978291333 |year=2017 }}
• {{Cite book |title=The death of expertise: the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters |last=Nichols |first=Thomas M. |isbn=9780190469412 |location=New York, NY |oclc=965120125 |year=2017 }}
• {{Cite book |title=Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for... failure. |last=Haidt |first=Jonathan |date=2018 |publisher=PENGUIN BOOKS |isbn=9780735224896 |location=[S.l.] |oclc=1007552624}}
• {{Cite book |title=Rise of Victimhood Culture: microaggressions, safe spaces, and the new culture wars |last=Campbell |first=Bradley |date=2018 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=9783319703282 |location=[S.l.] |oclc=1006306577}}
• {{Cite book |title=Speak freely: why universities must defend free speech|author1-link=Keith Whittington |last=Whittington |first=Keith E. |isbn=9780691181608 |location=Princeton, New Jersey |oclc=1028552259 |date=April 10, 2018 }}
• {{Cite book |title=Suicide of the west: how the rebirth of tribalism, populism, nationalism, and identity politics is destroying American democracy |last=Goldberg |first=Jonah |isbn=9781101904930 |edition= 1st |location=New York |oclc=973135836}}
• {{Cite book |title=Them: why we hate each other--and how to heal |last=Sasse |first=Benjamin E. |isbn=9781250193681 |edition= 1st |location=New York |oclc=1055766385 |date=October 16, 2018 }}
• {{Cite book |title=Meltdown: why our systems fail and what we can do about it |last1=Chris |first1=Clearfield |last2=Tilcsik |first2=András |year=2018 |isbn=9780735222632 |location=New York |oclc=993419323}}
• {{Cite book |title=The perils of "privilege": why injustice can't be solved by accusing others of advantage |last=Maltz Bovy |first=Phoebe |isbn=9781250091208 |edition= 1st |location=New York |oclc=973480779 |date = March 14, 2017}}
• {{Cite book |title=Freedom of speech on campus |others=Doyle, Eamon, 1988- |isbn=9781534503076 |edition= 1st |location=New York, NY |oclc=1019833275 |last1 = Doyle |first1 = Eamon |date = July 15, 2018}}
• {{Cite book |title=Not a daycare: the devastating consequences of abandoning truth |last=Everett |first=Piper |isbn=9781621576051 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=999673768 |date = August 7, 2017}}
• {{Cite book |title=The diversity delusion: how race and gender pandering corrupt the university and undermine our culture |last=Heather |first=Mac Donald |isbn=9781250200914 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=1024091839}}

{{Cite book |title=The madness of crowds: gender, race and identity |last=Murray |first=Douglas |isbn=9781635579987 |location=London |oclc=1119529087 |date=September 17, 2019}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Canceling-of-the-American-Mind/Greg-Lukianoff/9781668019146 |title=The Canceling of the American Mind |date=October 17, 2023 |isbn=978-1-6680-1914-6 |last1=Lukianoff |first1=Greg |last2=Schlott |first2=Rikki |publisher=Simon and Schuster }} Philosopher Russell Blackford provides a very precise and comprehensive timeline.{{Cite book |title=The tyranny of opinion: conformity and the future of liberalism |last=Blackford |first=Russell |year=2019 |isbn=9781350056022 |pages=142–149 |publisher=Bloomsbury |oclc=1048595507}} Some of these books noted the "sexism" and "irony" that, in a key episode that was part of the events (when Christakis was surrounded by 150 students in a quad for two hours), the students wished to hold Christakis responsible for his wife's email.{{Cite book |title=I Find that Offensive |last=Fox |first=C |publisher=Biteback |year=2017 |location=London}}{{Cite book |title=Free Speech on Campus |last=Ben-Porath |first=Sigal |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2017 |location=Philadelphia}} Commentator Douglas Murray summarizes statements by students based on his review of extensive video footage released by the students themselves of the events in the quad, and he notes Christakis' emphasis on "our common humanity". Many of these books have expressed concern at the "illiberal" actions of the students (and of many administrators and faculty) at Yale. The behavior of the students also sparked a minor controversy at Harvard Law School when a student there wrote a piece decrying the Christakis' treatment as "fascism" in the Harvard Law Record; criticized for publishing the piece, the Record{{'}}s liberal editor-in-chief wrote that his role was "editor-in-chief, not thought-policeman-in-chief."{{Cite web |url=http://hlrecord.org/2015/11/fascism-at-yale/|title=Fascism at Yale |website=The Harvard Law Record |access-date=February 8, 2018}}{{Cite web|url=http://hlrecord.org/2015/12/a-note-from-the-editor-in-chief-why-i-dont-censor-conservative-articles/|title=A Note from the Editor-in-Chief: Why I Don't Censor Conservative Articles |website=The Harvard Law Record |access-date=February 8, 2018}} The case has also influenced fictional portrayals of such events.{{Cite web |title='Cancellation of Lauren Fein' brings culture wars to Dramaworks in world premiere play |url=http://palmbeachartspaper.com/cancellation-of-lauren-fein-brings-culture-wars-to-dramaworks-in-world-premiere-play/ |access-date=February 5, 2024 |website=palmbeachartspaper.com}}

A 2023 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education argued that the event signaled a worrisome sea change in attitudes on American university campuses, one "which in retrospect appears a compact fable containing all or almost all of the elements of our disorienting campus present".{{Cite journal |last=Gutkin |first=Len |date=December 22, 2023 |title=A Decade of Ideological Transformation Comes Undone |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-decade-of-ideological-transformation-comes-undone |journal=Chronicle of Higher Education}} A "free speech summit" organized by PEN America at Harvard University in 2024 also treated the event as a pivotal one, reflecting a "fundamental shift in campus climate".{{Cite news |last=Krupnick |first=Max |date=January 19, 2024 |title=Defending Civil Discourse on Campus |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2024/01/harvard-pen-free-speech-panel |work=Harvard Magazine}}

Christakis has spoken publicly about the events only rarely. In an October 2017 interview with Sam Harris, he discussed parts of the situation he faced, framing the events at Yale in the broader context of what was happening on many campuses during that time period; Harris noted that Christakis had "the imperturbability of a saint."{{Cite news|url=https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/facing-the-crowd|title=Facing the Crowd |last=Harris|first=Sam|access-date=October 11, 2017}} In March 2019, Christakis told Frank Bruni that, partly in response to the events, he worked to complete a long-standing book project on the origins of goodness in society (Blueprint).{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/opinion/nicholas-christakis-yale.html|title=Opinion {{!}} A 'Disgusting' Yale Professor Moves On|last=Bruni|first=Frank|date=March 19, 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 24, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}

Christakis resides in Norwich, Vermont.{{Cite news|url=https://www.vnews.com/Norwich-author-Nicholas-Christakis-discusses-his-new-book-Blueprint-25309769|title=Norwich author examines the traits common to good societies|last=Earle|first=Sarah|date=May 30, 2019|work=Valley News|access-date=May 31, 2019}} He is married to early childhood educator and author Erika Christakis and they have four children, one of whom they adopted later in life, while serving as foster parents.{{cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/3/8/house-harvard-mather-masters/ |title=House Master Families Reflect |website = The Harvard Crimson |last = Kolin|first = Danielle |access-date=August 15, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=http://nautil.us/issue/75/story/humans-are-wired-for-goodness|title=Humans Are Wired for Goodness|last=Gallagher|first=Brian|date=August 22, 2019|website=Nautilus|access-date=September 17, 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/12/09/should-we-worry-that-american-children-are-becoming-less-creative/|title=Should We Worry that American Children Are Becoming Less Creative|last=Christakis|first=Erika|date=December 9, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 20, 2020}} His hobbies have included Shotokan karate (as noted by his instructor, Kazumi Tabata)Tabata, Kazumi, Warrior Wisdom, Tuttle publishing, 2013, {{ISBN|978-4805312711}} and making maple syrup.{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/tiaa-2016/the-thing-that-says-it-all/864/|title=The Thing That Says It All|website=theatlantic.com}}

• Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care (1999) {{ISBN|978-0226104706}}
• Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (2009) - with James Fowler {{ISBN|978-0316036146}}
• Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society (2019) {{ISBN|978-0316230032}}
• Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live (2020) {{ISBN|978-0316628228}}

• {{cite journal |title=Mortality after the Hospitalization of a Spouse |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=354 |issue=7 |pages=719–730 |date=2006 |doi=10.1056/NEJMsa050196 |url=http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/072-Mortality-after-the-Hospitalization-of-a-Spouse.pdf |pmid=16481639 |last1=Christakis |first1=NA |last2=Allison |first2=PD |s2cid=8229736 |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810144900/http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/072-Mortality-after-the-Hospitalization-of-a-Spouse.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2017 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite journal |last2=Fowler |first2=JH |date=2007 |title=The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network Over 32 Years |url=http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/078-Spread-of-Obesity-in-a-Large-Social-Network-Over-32-Years.pdf |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=357 |issue=4 |pages=370–379 |doi=10.1056/NEJMsa066082 |pmid=17652652 |last1=Christakis |first1=NA |s2cid=264194973 |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118100405/http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/078-Spread-of-Obesity-in-a-Large-Social-Network-Over-32-Years.pdf |archive-date=November 18, 2015 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite journal |title=The Effect of Widowhood on Mortality by the Causes of Death of Both Spouses |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=98 |issue=11 |pages=2092–2098 |date=2008 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2007.114348 |url=http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/092-The-Effect-of-Widowhood-on-Mortality-by-the-Causes-of-Death-of-Both-Spouses.pdf |pmid=18511733 |last1=Elwert |first1=F |last2=Christakis |first2=NA |pmc=2636447 |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071239/http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/092-The-Effect-of-Widowhood-on-Mortality-by-the-Causes-of-Death-of-Both-Spouses.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite journal |last2=Fowler |first2=JH |date=2008 |title=Quitting in Droves: Collective Dynamics of Smoking Behavior in a Large Social Network |url=http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/084-The-Collective-Dynamics-of-Smoking-in-a-Large-Social-Network.pdf |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=358 |issue=21 |pages=2249–2258 |doi=10.1056/NEJMsa0706154 |pmc=2822344 |pmid=18499567 |last1=Christakis |first1=NA |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810144955/http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/084-The-Collective-Dynamics-of-Smoking-in-a-Large-Social-Network.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2017 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite journal |last2=Christakis |first2=NA |date=2009 |title=The Dynamic Spread of Happiness in a Large Social Network |url=http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/095-Dynamic-Spread-of-Happiness-in-a-Large-Social-Network.pdf |journal=British Medical Journal |volume=337 |issue=768 |pages=a2338 |doi=10.1136/bmj.a2338 |pmc=2600606 |pmid=19056788 |last1=Fowler |first1=JH |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118110549/http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/095-Dynamic-Spread-of-Happiness-in-a-Large-Social-Network.pdf |archive-date=November 18, 2015 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite journal |last2=Dawes |first2=CT |last3=Christakis |first3=NA |date=2009 |title=Model of genetic variation in human social networks |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=106 |issue=6 |pages=1720–1724 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0806746106 |pmc=2644104 |pmid=19171900 |last1=Fowler |first1=JH |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.1720F |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |title=Cooperative Behavior Cascades in Human Social Networks |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=107 |issue=12 |pages=5334–8 |date=2010 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0913149107 |last1=Fowler |first1=JH |last2=Christakis |first2=NA |pmid=20212120 |pmc=2851803 |arxiv=0908.3497 |bibcode=2010PNAS..107.5334F |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |title=Social Network Sensors for Early Detection of Contagious Outbreaks |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=5 |issue=9 |pages=e12948 |date=2010 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0012948 |last1=Christakis |first1=NA |last2=Fowler |first2=JH |pmid=20856792 |pmc=2939797 |arxiv=1004.4792 |bibcode=2010PLoSO...512948C |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |title=An Empirical Model for Strategic Network Formation |journal=NBER Working Papers |issue=16039 |date=2010 |doi=10.3386/w16039 |url=https://www.nber.org/papers/w16039 |last1=Christakis |first1=NA |last2=Fowler |first2=JH |last3=Imbens |first3=GW |last4=Kalyanaraman |first4=K |series=Working Paper Series |access-date=November 24, 2022 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |title=Correlated Genotypes in Friendship Networks |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=108 |date=2011 |issue=5 |pages=1993–7 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1011687108 |last1=Fowler |first1=JH |last2=Settle |first2=JE |last3=Christakis |first3=NA |pmid=21245293 |pmc=3033315 |bibcode=2011PNAS..108.1993F |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |title=Dynamic Social Networks Promote Cooperation in Experiments with Humans |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=108 |issue=48 |pages=19193–8 |date=2011 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1108243108 |last1=Rand |first1=DG |last2=Arbesman |first2=S |last3=Christakis |first3=NA |pmid=22084103 |pmc=3228461 |bibcode=2011PNAS..10819193R |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |title=Social Networks and Cooperation in Hunter-Gatherers |journal=Nature |volume=481 |issue=7382 |pages=497–501 |date=2012 |doi=10.1038/nature10736 |url=http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/127-Social-Networks-and-Cooperation-in-Hunter-Gatherers.pdf |last1=Apicella |first1=CL |last2=Marlowe |first2=FW |last3=Fowler |first3=JH |last4=Christakis |first4=NA |pmid=22281599 |pmc=3340565 |bibcode=2012Natur.481..497A |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215090314/http://nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/127-Social-Networks-and-Cooperation-in-Hunter-Gatherers.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Christakis |first1=NA |last2=Fowler |first2=JH |year=2014 |title=Friendship and Natural Selection |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=111 |issue=3 |pages=10796–10801 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1400825111 |pmid=25024208 |arxiv=1308.5257 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111S0796C |pmc=4113922 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|title=Inequality and Visibility of Wealth in Experimental Social Networks |journal=Nature|volume=526|issue=7382|pages=426–429|date=2015|doi=10.1038/nature15392|last1=Nishi |first1=CL|last2=Shirado|first2=FW |last3=Rand|first3=DG|last4=Christakis|first4=NA|pmid=26352469 |bibcode=2015Natur.526..426N|s2cid=4446774}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=DA |last2=Hwong |first2=AR |last3=Stafford |first3=D |last4=Hughes |first4=DA |last5=O'Malley |first5=AJ |last6=Fowler |first6=JH |last7=Christakis |first7=NA |year=2015 |title=Social Network Targeting to Maximize Population Behavior Change: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial |journal=The Lancet |volume=386 |issue=9989|pages=145–153 |doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(15)60095-2|pmid=25952354 |pmc=4638320 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=H |last2=Christakis |first2=NA |year=2017 |title=Locally Noisy Autonomous Agents Improve Global Human Coordination in Network Experiments |journal=Nature |volume=545 |issue=7654|pages=370–374 |doi=10.1038/nature22332 |pmid=28516927 |pmc=5912653 |bibcode=2017Natur.545..370S }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Traeger |first1=ML |last2=Sebo |first2=SS |last3=Jung |first3=M |last4=Scassellati |first4=B |last5=Christakis |first5=NA |year=2020 |title=Vulnerable Robots Shape Human Conversational Dynamics in a Human-Robot Team |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=117 |issue=12|pages=6370–6375 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1910402117 |pmid=32152118 |pmc=7104178 |bibcode=2020PNAS..117.6370T |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Jia |first1=JS |last2=Lu |first2=X |last3=Yuan |first3=Y |last4=Xu |first4=G |last5=Jia |first5=J |last6=Christakis |first6=NA |year=2020 |title=Population Flow Drives Spatio-Temporal Distribution of COVID-19 in China |journal=Nature |volume=582|issue =7812|pages=389–394|doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2284-y |pmid=32349120 |bibcode=2020Natur.582..389J |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Shirado |first1=H |last2=Christakis |first2=NA |year=2020 |title=Network Engineering Using Autonomous Agents Increases Cooperation in Human Groups |journal=iScience |volume=23|issue=9 |pages=101438 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2020.101438 |pmid=32823053 |pmc=7452167 |bibcode=2020iSci...23j1438S }}
• Alexander, M; Forastiere, L; Gupta, S; Christakis, NA. (2022). "Algorithms for seeding social networks can enhance the adoption of a public health intervention in urban India". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (30): e2120742119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2120742119. PMC 9335263. PMID 35862454.
• Shirado, H; Kasahara, S; Christakis, NA. (2023). "Emergence and Collapse of Reciprocity in Semi-Automatic Driving Coordination Experiments With Humans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120 (51): e2307804120. doi:10.1073/pnas.2307804120.
• Airoldi, EM; Christakis, NA. (2024). "Induction of Social Contagion for Diverse Outcomes in Structured Experiments in Isolated Villages". Science 384: eadi5147. doi:10.1126/science.adi5147.
• Beghini F; Pullman J; Alexander M; Shridhar SV; Prinster D; Singh A; Juarez RM; Airolid, EM; Brito IL; and Christakis, NA. (2024). "Gut microbiome strain-sharing within isolated village social networks". Nature doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08222-1.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://sociology.yale.edu/people/nicholas-christakis Nicholas Christakis] | Yale University
• {{TED speaker|2=Nicholas Christakis}}

{{Authority control|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christakis, Nicholas A.}}

Category:1962 births

Category:American people of Greek descent

Category:American sociologists

Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Category:Harvard Medical School alumni

Category:Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni

Category:Harvard Medical School faculty

Category:Living people

Category:Medical sociologists

Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni

Category:Yale College alumni

Category:Yale University faculty

Category:Yale Sterling Professors

Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine