Most natural and artificial systems transform information in a predictable or programmable way; such transformation can be interpreted as harnessing nature for computing. Recently we have witnessed a burst of research in unconventional computing, resulting in the development of experimental prototypes of natural computers, plasmodium computers, reaction-diffusion processors, and DNA computers as well as theoretical paradigms of natural computation such as cellular automata, artificial chemistry, evolutionary computing, and neural networks. The International Workshop on Natural Computing (IWNC) brings together computer scientists, biologists, mathematicians, electronic engineers, physicists, and others to critically assess present findings in the field, and to outline future developments in nature-inspired computing. This compilation of papers presented at the most recent workshop, held in Nagoya, Japan, makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of natural computing.

Natural Computing.- Combinatorial Optimization by Amoeba-Based Neurocomputer with Chaotic Dynamics.- Factorizing RSA Keys.- Toward a Representation of Hybrid Functional Petri Nets by MP Systems.- Computing with Feedforward Networks of Artificial Biochemical Neurons.- Information Processing with Structured Chemical Excitable Medium.- Wholeness and Information Processing in Biological Networks: An Algebraic Study of Network Motifs.- Regulation Effects by Programmed Molecules for Transcription-Based Diagnostic Automata towards Therapeutic Use.- On Detection and Isolation of Defective Cells in Self-Timed Cellular Automata.- Towards the Sequence Design Preventing Pseudoknot Formation.- Self-organized Spatio-temporal Oscillation Observed in a Chain of Non-oscillatory Cells.- Exploiting Natural Asynchrony and Local Knowledge within Systemic Computation to Enable Generic Neural Structures.- Molecular Communication: Simulation of Microtubule Topology.- Monte Carlo Simulation in Lattice Ecosystem: Top-Predator Conservation and Population Uncertainty.- Toward Biologically Inspired Constructive Computation.- A Classification of Triplet Local Rules with Inverse Image Sequences.- An Efficient Multiple Alignment Method for RNA Secondary Structures Including Pseudoknots.- Asymmetric Interaction in Non-equilibrium Dissipative System towards Dynamics for Biological System.- Design and Numerical Analysis of RNA Oscillator.- Protoplasmic Computing to Memorize and Recall Periodic Environmental Events.- A Synchronization Problem in Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata.- Information Exchange between Moving Particles and Defects.