From'The Terminator' and'Blade Runner' to'The Matrix,' Hollywood has taught us to be wary of artificial intelligence. But rather than sealing our doom on the big screen, algorithms could be the solution to at least one issue presented by the climate crisis. Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science have successfully created a new type of machine learning model to predict the power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of materials that can be used in next-generation organic solar cells, including'virtual' compounds that don't exist yet. Unlike some time-consuming and complicated models, the latest approach is quick, easy to use and the code is freely available for all scientists and engineers. The key to developing a more efficient and user-friendly model was to replace complicated and computationally expensive parameters, which require quantum mechanical calculations, with simpler and chemically interpretable signature descriptors of the molecules being analyzed.

Alien: Covenant is a decent film about android consciousness and ancient secrets wherein Michael Fassbender proves he can play an excellent android. But it has one big problem: In order to earn the "Alien" name, director Ridley Scott was forced to rehash a lot of moments from his 1979 sci-fi classic. Not even Scott, who seems much more interested in making connections to his 2012 prequel Prometheus than in filming another slobbering xenomorph. The result is a movie where the biggest money shots feel largely obligatory--just killers and filler, nothing more. Even documentaries are getting follow-ups now.