Extensive research has explored the potential utility of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) in phytoremediation, particularly its ability to alleviate soil pollution caused by heavy metals—a significant threat to human health and the environment. Various industrial activities, including mining, smelting, and manufacturing, can introduce heavy metals into the soil. Phytoremediation harnesses the unique detoxification abilities of plants like cannabis to rehabilitate polluted sites. Studies indicate that cannabis exhibits remarkable proficiency in extracting heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and nickel from contaminated soil, accumulating them in its tissues. This highlights the promising potential of cannabis as a candidate for phytoremediation. Noteworthy attributes such as hemp's deep roots and robustness enable it to endure diverse metal accumulations, and its biomass presents numerous commercial opportunities post-harvest. Additionally, research suggests that the integration of mycorrhizal fungi may enhance cannabis' phytoremediation capabilities. These symbiotic fungi establish beneficial relationships with plants, promoting nutrient absorption and fortifying environmental resilience.

Nano-priming has emerged as a novel technology for improving seed germination, vigour, and stress tolerance, and enhancing nutrient uptake in cereal grains, especially rice and wheat. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of 6302 publications obtained by a Boolean search query from the Scopus database, executed in November 2025. The dataset was further refined by using strict inclusion–exclusion criteria and mapped for the intellectual, geographic, and collaborative structure of the research on the topic under study at the global level. Country-level research productivity, subject-area distribution, annual publication trajectories, source-level publication patterns, and co-authorship networks are part of this study. The analysis revealed a highly skewed global publication distribution dominated by China, India, and Pakistan, which are major global hubs for nanotechnology-assisted seed treatment research, on the nano-priming of seeds. Agricultural sciences, environmental sciences, materials science, and nanotechnology emerged as dominant interdisciplinary contributors to nano-priming research. Annual publication trends continue to show an exponential rise since 2013, driven by growing interests in nanotechnology-enabled crop improvement. Co-authorship analysis revealed dense collaborative clusters centred in South and East Asia, interconnected through key bridging authors. The bibliometric evaluation, together with evidence-based synthesis of experimental studies, highlighted zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, silver, iron oxide, chitosan, and carbon-based nanomaterials as the main hotspots driving physiological enhancement in rice and wheat through enzymatic activation, nutrient uptake, and stress-resilience pathways. Nanotechnology-based seed treatments in rice and wheat offer a promising and sustainable approach to enhance crop productivity, stress tolerance, nutrient-use efficiency, and global food security under changing environmental conditions.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) rank among the highest-volume engineered nanomaterials, and their partial dissolution generates a composite particle and ion exposure that converges on three measurable molecular layers. This review consolidates quantitative endpoints reported across in vitro, rodent, avian, piscine and controlled human exposures and organises them into mitochondrial, redox and epigenetic signature classes. Reported responses include mitochondrial membrane potential loss to 55 percent of control, mitochondrial DNA copy number shifts spanning 290 percent to 80 percent of control, PGC-1 alpha suppression to 48.6 percent, global 5-methylcytosine reduction to 42 percent, histone G9a induction near 50-fold, and transcriptomic responses reaching 2703 differentially expressed genes. Cross-layer convergence is anchored by zinc homeostasis regulators, heme oxygenase 1, one carbon metabolite accumulation and ferroptotic lipid remodelling across species. A candidate integrated biomarker panel is proposed here together with the analytical and dosimetric constraints that presently limit its regulatory adoption.

Background: Managing hazardous waste in India is a complex environmental and public health issue that raises legal questions regarding the source of pollution, routes of contamination, and legal liability. Forensic environmental auditing is an approach that combines chemistry, environmental science, and legal principles to address such issues. Objective: This review discusses the application of environmental forensics in the management of hazardous waste, with emphasis on audit techniques, source identification through chemical and isotope analysis, digital waste monitoring, scientific evidence in the Indian legal system for judicial purposes, and is updated with recent legislative modifications, including the Environment Audit Rules, 2025. Methods: An integrative narrative review of scientific literature in peer-reviewed scientific journals (2000–2026), environmental legislation in India, regulatory inventories by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), and landmark decisions made by the Supreme Court of India and the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Results: The review highlights the following four thematic threads at the technical-legal interface: (i) deficiencies in institutional and methodological standardization of environmental forensics in regulatory enforcement practice; (ii) technical advantages and limitations of GC × GC–TOFMS, MC-ICP-MS, and machine learning models as source discrimination tools; (iii) legal obstacles in scientific data transformation into judicial proof under the framework of the absolute liability principle and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023; (iv) disruptive potential and physical-digital boundaries (‘oracle problem’) of IoT, AI, and blockchain technologies in waste traceability. Conclusions: Effective hazardous waste regulation in India requires implementing the newly adopted Environment Audit Rules, 2025, accrediting forensic laboratories in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025, and introducing unified evidentiary standards for NGT proceedings to shift from retroactive dispute settlement to proactive, evidence-based enforcement of liabilities.