Scientists from the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research and RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science have succeeded, in collaboration with international partners, in creating an ultrathin organic solar cell that is both highly efficient and durable. Using a simple post-annealing process, they created a flexible organic cell that degrades by less than 5 percent over 3,000 hours in atmospheric conditions and that simultaneously has an energy conversion ratio – a key indicator of solar cell performance – of 13 percent.

Organic photovoltaics are considered to be a promising alternative to silicon-based conventional films, being more environmentally friendly and cheap to produce...

The problem-solving prowess of a simple slime mold has been harnessed to trace the large-scale structure of the universe. A computational approach inspired by the growth patterns of a bright yellow slime mold has enabled a team of astronomers and computer scientists at UC Santa Cruz to trace the filaments of the cosmic web that connects galaxies throughout the universe.

Their results, publishe...

Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center identified a tiny protein in scorpion venom that rapidly accumulates in joint cartilage. Then they linked these mini-proteins with steroids to reverse inflammation in rats with arthritis. The researchers found that the drugs concentrated in the joints, potentially avoiding the body-wide toxicities and infection risks caused by nontargeted steroid treatment.

“For people with multi-joint arthritis, the side effects of controlling the disease can be as bad or worse than the disease itself,” said the project’s senior scientist Dr...

Scientists have developed a customizable computing device using nanofabricated switches than can be rewired to optimize AI applications using 80% less power. These devices can be used as flexible computing platform for artificial intelligence tasks.

Scientists at Osaka University built a new computing device from field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) that can be customized by the user for maximum efficiency in artificial intelligence applications. Compared with currently used rewireable hardware, the system increases circuit density by a factor of 12. Also, it is expected to reduce energy usage by 80%...