Computer Prediction Used to Design Better Organic Semiconductors 32
An anonymous reader writes "Creating a flexible display requires finding an organic material that's both durable and capable of carrying an electric signal fast enough. To create such a material requires choosing the right compound and combining it with an organic base material. It's a hit and miss affair that can take years of synthesis to get right, but even then the final material may not be good enough. Stanford and Harvard researchers have come up with a much faster solution: use computer prediction to decide on the best compound before synthesizing begins. They also proved it works by developing a new organic semiconductor material 30x faster than the amorphous silicon used in LCDs."
Re:Ummm.... (Score:4, Interesting)
though I do have to ask why it has taken so long.
Take a few years of organic chemistry courses, especially the labs, and you'll become astounded that they've gotten even this far.
Organic chemistry, compared to all other things considered "hard" science, is so difficult and the fundamentals so poorly understand that compared to physics or inorganic chemistry it might as well be mysticism. I struggled with it, trying to treat it like a science, for a whole year before my professor finally admitted that they don't know exactly how anything works; the core theories are good science, but have little more real-world proof than quantum physics. And succeeding at something novel in applied organic is far more art than science, despite the need for a post-doctoral scientific background.
They deserve serious credit for this kind of breakthrough, not questions about why it's "taken so long".