Self-assembling, anthracene-based supramolecular nanofibers can enable excitons to migrate hundreds of nanometers, according to a new experimental finding by researchers at Science Tokyo. Coupling these nanofibers with a plasmonic nanohole gold substrate further doubles exciton diffusivity. By mitigating the limited diffusivity of singlet excitons in organic semiconductors, this offers a new strategy for improving optoelectronic technologies.

Drawing inspiration from the dynamic architecture of living systems, researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo and Kyoto University have harnessed two chemically fueled biomolecular nanomachines, DNA polymerase and kinesin, to synthesize and actively assemble complex, hierarchical DNA networks. The work opens a route toward programmable, lifelike synthetic materials built from the nanoscale up.

Biotech company Matricelf and Loewenstein Rehabilitation Medical Center will collaborate in preparations for the world’s first implantation of an engineered spinal cord in a paralyzed patient. The scientific breakthrough is based on a revolutionary organ-engineering technology developed at TAU by Prof. Tal Dvir of the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology

When a pattern drawn only in black and white is rotated, people sometimes perceive colors that are not actually present. This phenomenon is known as “subjective color” and has been studied for approximately 200 years as one of the remarkable mysteries of vision. Among such phenomena, Benham’s top is a well-known example in which colors are perceived simply by spinning a black-and-white disk. A research group led by Associate Professor Eiji Watanabe of NIBB used an artificial neural network trained through predictive learning to investigate the mechanism underlying this subjective color phenomenon. The research group presented a black-and-white Benham’s top to an AI model that had been trained to predict “what kind of image will come next” after viewing natural videos. Although the input images contained no color information at all, faint colors appeared in the images predicted by the AI. Furthermore, the artificially generated colors were found to change depending on the colors of moving objects contained in the videos used to train the AI. Analyses using natural videos, 3D computer graphics, and simple two-dimensional videos of moving red, green, and blue squares suggested that learning the association between motion and color may be one factor that enables colors to emerge from black-and-white stimuli. This study suggests that subjective color may not be a phenomenon completed solely within the retina, but may also be related to the brain’s function of predicting future visual input based on past experience. By using AI, the study provides a new clue to the classical mystery of why colors are perceived from a black-and-white spinning top. These findings were published in Scientific Reports.

Researchers developed asymmetric [3+2+1] coordinated iridium(III) complexes featuring strong electron-withdrawing groups for deep-blue phosphorescent OLEDs. The optimized device achieved a record external quantum efficiency of 29.0% with CIE coordinates of (0.147, 0.089), meeting NTSC standards. A hyper-OLED demonstrated an operational lifetime exceeding 2000 hours, and the emitters were successfully integrated into microdisplay technology.

Polymers used for light-based 3D printing are very stable due to their chemical structure, but they are typically hard to recycle. A research team led by Prof. Dr. Eva Blasco, a researcher at the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) at Heidelberg University, has now designed a polymer material that can be disassembled into its individual components when needed. A chemical “key” causes already printed material to break down into its molecular building blocks within seconds. They can be recovered and reused in a circular manufacturing process.