Recent decades have seen a rise in the use of physics methods to study different societal
phenomena. This development has been due to physicists venturing outside of their …

Criticality is the singular state of complex systems poised at the brink of a phase transition
between order and randomness. Such systems display remarkable information-processing …

Prudent risk management requires consideration of bad-to-worst-case scenarios. Yet, for
climate change, such potential futures are poorly understood. Could anthropogenic climate …

Land degradation reduces soil functioning and, consequently, the services that soil
provides. Soil hydrological functions are critical to combat soil degradation and promote soil …

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized
world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding …

Collective behavior provides a framework for understanding how the actions and properties
of groups emerge from the way individuals generate and share information. In humans …

We are part of Nature, not separate from it. We rely on Nature to provide us with food, water
and shelter; regulate our climate and disease; maintain nutrient cycles and oxygen …

Conventional, neoclassical economics assumes perfectly rational agents (firms, consumers,
investors) who face well-defined problems and arrive at optimal behaviour consistent with …

BACKGROUND In the Anthropocene, there is a need to better understand the catastrophic
effects that climate and land-use change may have on ecosystems, Earth system …

A major concern for the world's ecosystems is the possibility of collapse, where landscapes
and the societies they support change abruptly. Accelerating stress levels, increasing …