Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2016
From ACM News
Why Biotech's Biggest Breakthrough Is Now In Dispute
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: A new gene-editing technology allows scientists to precisely locate and cut out bits of DNA from live cells in bacteria, animals, and even humans.
From ACM News
Bridging the Bio-Electronic Divide
A new DARPA program aims to develop an implantable neural interface able to provide unprecedented signal resolution and data-transfer bandwidth between the human brain and the digital world.
From ACM News
Evidence Grows For Giant Planet on Fringes of Solar System
A century after observatory founder Percival Lowell speculated that a 'Planet X' lurks at the fringes of the Solar System, astronomers say that they have the best evidence yet for such a world. They call it Planet Nine.
From ACM News
Nasa's Van Allen Probes Revolutionize View of Radiation Belts
About 600 miles from Earth's surface is the first of two donut-shaped electron swarms, known as the Van Allen Belts, or the radiation belts.
From ACM TechNews
App Aims to Make Cultural Heritage Interesting and Interactive
A mobile application designed to increase engagement with cultural heritage sites is now available from the European Union-funded TAG CLOUD project.
From ACM TechNews
Sensors Slip Into the Brain, Then Dissolve When the Job Is Done
University of Illinois researchers have developed flexible sensors that can operate accurately inside the human body for at least five days before dissolving.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Demonstrate Basics of Nucleic Acid Computing Inside Cells
Scientists have demonstrated basic computing operations inside a living mammalian cel.
From ACM TechNews
Shrinking the Haystack
Technologists are helping counter-terrorist forces with software that can identify locations to be searched for hideouts and weapons, or be put under surveillance.
From ACM TechNews
Malicious Coders Will Lose Anonymity as Identity-Finding Research Matures
Researchers from three universities and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory are trying to address the problem of identifying authors of malicious code and software.
From ACM News
When Chickens Go Wild
"Don't look at them directly," Rie Henriksen whispers, "otherwise they get suspicious."
From ACM News
For Now, Self-Driving Cars Still Need Humans
Car enthusiasts, after hearing industry executives discussing the self-driving technology being built into their vehicles, might be forgiven for thinking robotic cars will soon drive themselves out of auto showrooms.
From ACM News
Star's Bizarre Optical Antics Go Back at Least a Century
For over a century, a star's bizarre behavior has been hiding in plain sight.
From ACM TechNews
Race of World's Tiniest Cars Set to Drive Nano-Robot Revolution
Scientists from around the world will meet in Toulouse, France, in November for the world's first car race conducted at the nanoscopic level.
From ACM TechNews
9 Predictions For the Future of Programming
Nine programming trends expected to pan out over the next five years include the REST protocol's initial dominion over the Internet of Things.
From ACM TechNews
New App 'hides' ser Location From Third Parties
A new app blocks third parties from identifying an individual's location based on what they search for online.
From ACM News
Leds: Beyond Lighting
Light-emitting diodes have become vital nodes on information networks.
From ACM Careers
'hack the Dinos' Helps Paleontologists
Kaleigh Clary, a computer science graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, drove down to offer a day of free work for the American Museum of Natural History.
From ACM News
Most Luminous Galaxy Is Ripping Itself Apart
In a far-off galaxy, 12.4 billion light-years from Earth, a ravenous black hole is devouring galactic grub. Its feeding frenzy produces so much energy, it stirs up gas across its entire galaxy.
From ACM News
How Future Cars Will Predict Your Driving Maneuvers Before You Make Them
Buy a new car these days and the chances are that it will be fitted with an array of driver-assistance technologies.
From ACM News
Scientists Capture Crispr's Gene-Cutting in Action
For all the furious hype around the gene-editing tool Crispr/Cas9, no one has ever really seen it in action. Like really seen it.
From ACM Opinion
Wikipedia Turns 15
It must be difficult for the roughly half a billion people who visit Wikipedia every month to remember a world without the free online encyclopedia.
From ACM TechNews
3D Mapping of Entire Buildings With Mobile Devices
ETH Zurich professor Thomas Schops and colleagues have developed software that they say makes it easy to create three-dimensional (3D) models of buildings.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Neural Net Shows Deep Learning Can Get Way Deeper
A Microsoft researcher team won the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge in December with a new approach to deep learning.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Reality For Motor Rehabilitation of the Shoulder
Carlos III University of Madrid researchers have developed a virtual-reality system for motor rehabilitation of the shoulder.
From ACM TechNews
New Lab to Give Nation's Researchers Remote Access to Robots
The Georgia Institute of Technology is building the Robotarium, a laboratory that will enable roboticists to conduct experiments remotely.
From ACM TechNews
.s. Proposes Spending $4 Billion on Self-Driving Cars
The Obama administration on Thursday promised to accelerate regulatory guidelines for driverless cars and to make an investment in research to commercialize them.
From ACM Opinion
China's Quantum Space Pioneer: We Need to Explore the nknown
Physicist Pan Jian-Wei is the architect of the world's first attempt to set up a quantum communications link between Earth and space—an experiment that is set to begin with the launch of a satellite in June.
From ACM News
The Nfl Is Finally Tapping Into the Power of Data
The NFL may be the most popular and profitable major sport in America, but until recently, it's lagged behind other leagues in sophisticated use of data analysis.
From ACM News
Gene Editing Shows Promise in Treating Muscular Dystrophy
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is one of the most common fatal genetic diseases. It causes muscle degeneration and eventually death due to weakened heart and lung muscles.
From ACM TechNews
Programmable Material Algorithm Solves niversal Coating Problem
Research from Arizona State University answers a question that has stumped mathematicians pondering the properties of programmable materials.