News & Comment

Mitochondria, the powerhouse and the vital signaling hub of the cell, participate in a variety of biological processes, such as apoptosis, redox responses, cell senescence, autophagy, and iron homeostasis. Mitochondria form a mostly tubular network, made up of an outer and a cristeae-forming inner membrane. The network undergoes dynamic fusion and fission that change its morphological structure according to the functional needs. Approximately 1500 mitochondrial proteins encoded by nuclear genome plus over 10 proteins encoded by mitochondrial DNA are folded and assembled in the mitochondria under a high-fidelity control system. These proteins are involved in oxidative phosphorylation, metabolism, network and cristae dynamics, mitophagy, import machinery, ion channels, and mitochondrial DNA maintenance. This Collection gathers original research that advances our understanding of the monitoring techniques and pathophysiological significance of mitochondrial dynamics in health and disease.

The collection is dedicated to the conversion of biomass wastes into value-added bioproducts and bioactive compounds, with a focus on their applications in the agro-energy sector. Of particular relevance were three studies evaluating the effects of livestock waste, rice straw and biochar on soil properties, crops and productivity. Of note were two articles on the bioconversion of aquaculture sludge by insects and the production of biofuel from seed oil as an alternative to overcoming the depletion of fossil fuels. Finally, one article analysed the potential for recovering organic and mineral compounds from gastropod shells. The articles provided insights into the management and use of biomass wastes, as well as suggestions for future research to promote sustainability in agriculture.

Synthetic polymers have shown a great impact on every aspect of our life and attained an exponential rise in their production and utilization in the past decades due to their durability, flexibility, moldability, and inexpensive nature. However, the use of natural polymers or development of safe and environment-friendly synthetic bio-based polymers is continuously undergoing for a sustainable future owing to the exhaustion of petroleum-based resources or fossil-based materials, disposal and economical concerns, including government guidelines. In this regard, the development of new sustainable polymers or materials will step up and build a genuinely circular economy by decreasing manufacture or utilization of fossil-based materials as limited reserves.

Transport has always played a major role in shaping society. By enabling or restricting the movement of people and goods, the presence or absence of transport services and infrastructure has historically been determining for cultures to connect, for knowledge to be shared, and for societies to evolve and prosper, or, in contrast, for societies to decay and fail. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, transport has been going through a revolution worldwide. One of the primary goals for the transport sector is clear: it needs to be decarbonized and become more sustainable. At the same time, technological advances are shaping the transport sector toward smart services and societies. The Special Collection showcases some of the latest advances in research towards sustainable and technology-enabled transport.

Hallucinations and delusions can be symptoms of psychiatric illness, but more often—though less commonly known—are actually part of a healthy range of experiences found throughout the general population. The studies in this Special Collection paint a picture of the wide range of hallucinatory and delusional experiences across diverse populations, as well as comparative perspectives between clinical and non-clinical samples. In this editorial, I make three related points that are exemplified in the articles published here. First, that hallucinations and delusions are part of a normal distribution of human diversity; their mere presence does not indicate psychosis or psychiatric illness. Second, that the ubiquity of hallucinatory and delusional experiences across clinical and non-clinical populations suggests common cognitive and neural mechanisms. Finally, despite these commonalities, it is important to understand the difference between psychiatric symptoms and healthy experience. In summary, I conclude that it is important to investigate both common mechanisms and distinguishing factors to comprehensively elucidate these oft-misunderstood experiences. This Special Collection provides a showcase of the cutting-edge research that encompasses these objectives.

Nuclear power plays a pivotal role in ensuring a scalable, affordable, and reliable low-carbon electricity supply. Along with other low-carbon energy technologies, nuclear energy is essential for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, addressing climate change and air pollution, and achieving a sustainable economy. Whilst significant progress has been made in reducing the volume of final radioactive waste, its management remains one of the most important challenges when considering the continued use and expansion of nuclear energy. This recently published collection highlights the latest technological and scientific advances aimed to improve the safe, long-term, and sustainable management of wastes produced from nuclear power generation.

Green chemistry and engineering seek for maximizing efficiency and minimizing negative impacts on the environment and human health in chemical production processes. Driven by advances in the principles of environment protection and sustainability, these fields are expected to greatly contribute to achieving sustainable development goals. To this end, many studies have been conducted to develop new approaches within green chemistry and engineering. The Advances in Green Chemistry and Engineering Collection at Scientific Reports aims at gathering the latest research on developing and implementing the principles of green chemistry and engineering.

The ability to understand and regulate one’s emotions is an integral part of human development. As part of this learning process, emotion socialization is understood as the dynamic mechanism by which caregivers mediate and influence the child’s emotional competence. Failures in emotion socialization have been associated with antisocial behavior, peer rejection, and mental health issues in both children and adults, which underscores the importance of this process. It has been suggested that emotion socialization is strongly influenced by the socio-cultural features of the caregivers. This Collection compiles recent works that unravel the underlying complex mechanisms of emotion socialization and related life outcomes. It emphasizes the crucial role that cultural and individual traits play in the process of emotion socialization. Looking ahead, combining insights from neuro-physiological and socio-cultural perspectives promises to enrich our comprehension of emotional processes and emotional competence development.

The rapid expansion of cancer immunology and immunotherapy builds upon the success of early immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and chimeric antigen receptor T cells for some cancer types. Many gaps still exist, however, in the scientific knowledge of immune dysfunction in the tumour microenvironment and predicting clinical immunotherapy response to allow more cancer patients to benefit from immunotherapy. The Cancer Immunotherapy Collection within Scientific Reports describes pioneering preclinical and clinical studies addressing these concepts, representing significant insights and breakthroughs in the field.