public-health

As children, we were taught sharing is caring. Turns out it’s also good for business. Opportunities abound to monetize goods and services through joint use: Share your apartment with strangers through room rental services like Airbnb. Turn your car into a taxi service. Wait in line for people who are willing to pay to avoid queueing themselves.

The issue: Since penicillin was introduced in the 1940s, antibiotics have saved countless lives. But we have used these drugs so much for so long that the diseases they once killed have adapted and developed immunity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 23,000 Americans now die each year from infections by bacteria that are impervious to antibiotics.

Scientists are still trying to gain a better understanding of the Zika virus–which the World Health Organization has called an international public health emergency–while public health officials scramble to manage outbreaks without a complete scientific picture of the disease.