The idea of resource depletion has been a common theme throughout much of history, especially in the last century. Look at Amazon deforestation, groundwater supplies, coffee plants, fishing grounds, ...

Fake news, disinformation and conspiracy theories abound. If you want to understand the crazy, mixed-up, 21st century information ecosystem, think about it as what is called a “tragedy of the commons.

Humanity needs to start addressing the growing space junk problem now, before it gets out of hand, scientists stress. Earth orbit is getting more and more crowded, with both active satellites and ...

First principles of thermodynamics imply that metabolic pathways are faced with a trade-off between the rate and yield of ATP production. Simple evolutionary models argue that this trade-off generates ...

There are at least two conversations going on in the health care marketplace today, each focused on one of two key questions. One is: How can we achieve the Triple Aim? The other is: Why do they get ...

One phrase that doesn’t seem to be used enough in the context of the COP26 summit and climate change is “the tragedy of the commons” (30 October, p 8). This describes a scenario that is a standard ...

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve read a few articles about COVID-19’s knock-on effects on people’s behaviour—particularly stockpiling goods—which people online have called "stupid" and "selfish." ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American Fifty years ago, in December, 1968, Garrett ...

If climate scientists are right about global warming, we are cooked. The world community will no more likely be able to prevent the emergence of the predicted “Climate Armageddon” than it was able to ...

Log-in to bookmark & organize content - it's free! MARCH 3, 2005 Digital Future: Copyright Issues Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder ...