Inaugural editorial: Leveraging scientific innovations to safeguard public health against the synergistic threats of air pollution and climate change

AdMaPlace March 16, 2025

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Journal’s scope and mission

npj Clean Air covers a broad scope of topics spanning air pollution, climate change, and human health. We welcome submissions from scientists in atmospheric chemistry and physics, climate science, environmental health, and related fields. Topics include but are not limited to: gaseous pollutants and atmospheric oxidation, health impacts of air pollution, aerosol-cloud-climate interactions, air pollution-ecosystem interactions, mitigation strategies for air pollution, and emerging atmospheric contaminants. Special emphasis is placed on the interactions between climate change and air pollution, as well as their combined effects on human health. Understanding these issues is critical for establishing rational air quality standards, continuously improving air quality, and formulating global warming countermeasures.

Significance to the field

The focus of npj Clean Air is pivotal to advancing this interdisciplinary domain. Climate change and air pollution exhibit intricate interactions, jointly exacerbating threats to human health. While these impacts attract global attentions, key scientific questions remain unresolved. The coupling between global climate change and regional air quality involves highly complex mechanisms: global warming alters meteorological processes, increasing the risk of regional pollution episodes, while anthropogenic emissions influence both climate change and extreme weather events. Through physical, chemical, and biological pathways, climate change and air pollution create “dual exposure” health risks. Synergies between extreme weather (e.g., heatwaves coupled with high ozone concentrations) and air pollution events (e.g., wildfires or dust storms releasing particulate matter with increasing frequency under climate change) further amplify health hazards. Clarifying the mechanisms linking global climate change, regional air quality, and human health—and proposing air quality improvement strategies and optimized environmental standards—is essential for safeguarding public health and supporting regional sustainable development goals. npj Clean Air serves as a vital platform for scientists addressing these challenges to share breakthroughs, perspectives, and collaborative insights.

Invitation to the community

We warmly invite researchers in atmospheric chemistry and physics, climate science, environmental health, and allied disciplines to contribute to npj Clean Air. Whether through original research, perspectives, or reviews, we welcome your submissions to share findings, ideas, and discoveries with our global readership. We also sincerely appreciate your participation as reviewers to uphold the journal’s rigor or collaborate on special issues addressing emerging topics. Current open special issues include “Air Quality under Climate Change”, “Air Pollution, Climate Change, and Their Compound Impacts on Human Health”, “Atmospheric Evolution of Light-Absorbing Carbonaceous Aerosols”, and “Interactions of Air Pollutants with Weather and Climate”. These new collections offer exceptional opportunities to showcase innovative research.

Future outlook

Looking ahead, npj Clean Air aspires to ambitious goals. We are committed to expanding our Editorial Board with global experts to reflect the journal’s international scope. Our long-term ambition is to position npj Clean Air as a leading journal in the field, recognized for its high-impact research and contributions to advancing interdisciplinary research at the climate-pollution-health interface.

Categories: Uncategorized

Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries

Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most people trust scientists and agree that scientists should engage more in society and policymaking. We found variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual- and country-level variables, including political orientation. While there is no widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists.

AdMaPlace March 13, 2025

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Probabilistic machine learning for battery health diagnostics and prognostics—review and perspectives

Diagnosing lithium-ion battery health and predicting future degradation is essential for driving design improvements in the laboratory and ensuring safe and reliable operation over a product’s expected lifetime. However, accurate battery health diagnostics and prognostics is challenging due to the unavoidable influence of cell-to-cell manufacturing variability and time-varying operating circumstances experienced in the field. Machine learning approaches informed by simulation, experiment, and field data show enormous promise to predict the evolution of battery health with use; however, until recently, the research community has focused on deterministic modeling methods, largely ignoring the cell-to-cell performance and aging variability inherent to all batteries. To truly make informed decisions regarding battery design in the lab or control strategies for the field, it is critical to characterize the uncertainty in a model’s predictions. After providing an overview of lithium-ion battery degradation, this paper reviews the current state-of-the-art probabilistic machine learning models for health diagnostics and prognostics. Details of the various methods, their advantages, and limitations are discussed in detail with a primary focus on probabilistic machine learning and uncertainty quantification. Last, future trends and opportunities for research and development are discussed.

AdMaPlace March 17, 2025

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Aerospace medicine in China: advancements and perspectives

With the rapid growth of China’s space industry, long-term manned space missions face challenges from the complex space environment, posing risks to human health. Aerospace medicine, a key field, addresses these risks by researching the impacts of space on biochemical changes, cognitive abilities, and immune systems. This article reviews China’s aerospace medicine research, summarizing efforts from various institutions and offering insights for future developments in the field.

AdMaPlace March 17, 2025

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Iron homeostasis and ferroptosis in muscle diseases and disorders: mechanisms and therapeutic prospects

The muscular system plays a critical role in the human body by governing skeletal movement, cardiovascular function, and the activities of digestive organs. Additionally, muscle tissues serve an endocrine function by secreting myogenic cytokines, thereby regulating metabolism throughout the entire body. Maintaining muscle function requires iron homeostasis. Recent studies suggest that disruptions in iron metabolism and ferroptosis, a form of iron-dependent cell death, are essential contributors to the progression of a wide range of muscle diseases and disorders, including sarcopenia, cardiomyopathy, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thus, a comprehensive overview of the mechanisms regulating iron metabolism and ferroptosis in these conditions is crucial for identifying potential therapeutic targets and developing new strategies for disease treatment and/or prevention. This review aims to summarize recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying ferroptosis in the context of muscle injury, as well as associated muscle diseases and disorders. Moreover, we discuss potential targets within the ferroptosis pathway and possible strategies for managing muscle disorders. Finally, we shed new light on current limitations and future prospects for therapeutic interventions targeting ferroptosis.

AdMaPlace March 9, 2025

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Metal organic frameworks for wastewater treatment, renewable energy and circular economy contributions

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are versatile materials with tailorable structures, high surface areas, and controlled pore sizes, making them ideal for gas storage, separation, catalysis, and notably wastewater treatment by removing pollutants like antibiotics and heavy metals. Functionalization enhances their applications in energy conversion and environmental remediation. Despite challenges like stability and cost, ongoing innovation in MOFs contributes to the circular economy and aligns with Sustainable Development Goals.

AdMaPlace March 16, 2025

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Journal’s scope and mission

Significance to the field

Invitation to the community

Future outlook

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