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Researchers uncover hidden cause of aging in perovskite solar cells

A research team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has found a previously overlooked cause of aging in perovskite solar cells exposed to light. The team has also developed a solution that effectively extends the cells’ lifetime, an important step toward bringing the technology to market.

The study was conducted by Yang Guang, an assistant professor in the PolyU Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, together with a team from Zhejiang University, and has been published in the journal Watt. Professor Nam-Gyu Park of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, a pioneer in perovskite photovoltaics, commended the work in a Research Highlight in the same journal.

Perovskite solar cells are efficient, low-cost, lightweight and versatile, and are widely seen as one of the most promising next-generation solar technologies. However, their performance gradually declines after long exposure to sunlight, a process known as photodegradation. Solar panels must work reliably outdoors for many years, so photodegradation has long been a major barrier to large-scale perovskite solar cell commercialization.

‘Stupendously large’ primordial black holes ruled out as a dark matter source

Primordial black holes are hypothetical objects that could have formed directly from dense clumps of matter in the very early universe. If they exist, their dramatic origins would set them apart from the black holes we see today, which form when massive stars collapse. Some theories suggest that “stupendously large” primordial black holes could account for a significant share of the universe’s elusive dark matter.

Yet new calculations by Nicholas Leister at the Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics and colleagues show that even if these immense objects do exist, they can’t make up any meaningful fraction of dark matter.

Their research has been published in Physical Review Letters.

A Massive Brain-Scan Study Just Complicated a Popular Theory About Emotional Control

After a breakup, a friend might remind you that you’ve made it through difficult times before. Their advice makes sense, and you want to believe you’ll feel happy again. You might still return home from that conversation feeling just as upset.

Looking at a situation differently can sometimes bring relief. Scientists call the attempt to change our feelings by reinterpreting events cognitive reappraisal.

But does seeing the brain make that effort also reveal how well it works?

The brain is not a computer

Artificial intelligence is advancing on the assumption that the brain is essentially a computer and if that is true, replicating the mind in silicon is only a matter of time. Philosopher Dorothea Olkowski argues this is one of the biggest mistakes in the history of science. Consciousness does not originate in the cortex, the seat of reasoning and language, but in the brainstem, the most ancient part of the brain, shaped by body chemistry and emotion. The brain’s signalling system is too chemically complex, too slow-acting, and too entangled with the whole body to be reduced to the simple yes/no binary logic that underlies all computation.

The dominant assumption behind artificial intelligence is that the brain is essentially a computer—that thought is computation, and that consciousness, given sufficient processing power, can be replicated in silicon. The neuroscience tells a very different story. What the most important recent research reveals is that consciousness is not primarily a cortical function at all, let alone an algorithmic one: it arises from the oldest, most primitive part of the brain, is saturated with body chemistry, and is constitutively shaped by emotion.

The science I wish to focus on is neuroscience, and the first neuroscientist I would like to bring to your attention is the Estonian-American neuroscientist and psychobiologist Jaak Panksepp, whose work came to light for me when I started doing research for a course on cognition and emotion. Panksepp’s family fled Estonia for the US when he was still a child. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Massachusetts. His distinguished career began as Head of Affective Neuroscience Research at the Chicago Institute for Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch and the Falk Center for Molecular Therapeutics, along with two simultaneous university positions. Given this remarkable career, one wants to investigate what has prevented Panksepp’s work from being more widely known.

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Scientists discover hidden brain changes linked to common sleep disorders

Scientists have discovered that sleep disorders are associated with structural changes in brain regions that control attention, decision-making, and emotions, potentially explaining why disrupted sleep can affect everyday thinking and behavior. The findings, drawn from 57 brain imaging studies, reveal both shared and disorder-specific patterns that could lead to more targeted treatments.

Northwestern engineers create artificial neurons that communicate with living cells

Northwestern University engineers printed artificial neurons that don’t just imitate the brain — they talk to it.

In a new study, the Northwestern team developed flexible, low-cost devices that generate electrical signals realistic enough to activate living brain cells. When tested on slices of tissue from mouse brains, the artificial neurons successfully triggered responses from real neurons, demonstrating a new level of biocompatibility.

The work marks a step toward electronics that can communicate directly with the nervous system, with potential applications in brain-machine interfaces and neuroprosthetics, including implants for hearing, vision and movement.

New study indicates key health indicator that increases risk of Alzheimer’s by a third

One alarming new study has identified a link between the development of Alzheimer’s disease and one key health indicator that millions suffer from worldwide, indicating that it increases the risk by around a third.

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most challenging health conditions that people run the risk of dealing with in their later years, as it deteriorates your brain’s ability to think, makes remembering things harder, and even affects your behavior.

Some studies have discovered unorthodox ways of reducing the risk of developing this condition, including engaging in a rather gross habit or reaching a certain step count every single day, but it remains a challenge for medical experts across the globe to fight every year.