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 TechNews
Taskmaster Robots Watch While You Work in Case You Miss a Step
Researchers have developed a robot that can watch people work, learn the steps that make up the task, and remind people when they forget a step.
From ACM TechNews
Cybersecurity Experts Debate Proper Response to Terrorism
Recent terror attacks are spurring calls for greater government access to electronic communications, but privacy advocates and cybersecurity experts disagree.
From ACM News
.s. Meets Tech Leaders, Forms Task Force to Fight Online Militants
The Obama administration on Friday sent its top national security officials to meet tech industry leaders in Silicon Valley and announced a new task force to counter online propaganda as the United States tries to crack down…
From ACM News
MIT Researchers Want to Teach Robots How to Wash Dishes
The robots arrived years ago. They help build stuff in factories. They shuttle packages and products across the massive warehouses that drive Amazon’s worldwide retail operation. And so much more.
From ACM News
Rebooted Kepler Spacecraft Hauls in the Planets
In the second phase of its life as a planet hunter, NASA's Kepler spacecraft is raking in exoplanet discoveries that are surprisingly different from those found during its first iteration.
From ACM TechNews
Meet the Woman Leading the Race to Build the World's First Quantum Computer
The University of New South Wales in Australia continues to make strides in developing the world's first practical quantum computer.
From ACM TechNews
The 'internet of Touch' Will Require a Network Revolution
Researchers are proposing changes in the way haptic information is transmitted and received.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Scientists Launch Campaign to Guarantee Bug-Free Software
A multi-university consortium aspires to stamp out software bugs with the help of a five-year, $10-million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
From ACM TechNews
Bug Eyes: Tiny Glasses Confirm 3D Vision in Insects
Newcastle University researchers have found the praying mantis uses stereopsis, or three-dimensional perception, for hunting.
From ACM TechNews
Artificial Intelligence: A Force For Good or Evil?
In an interview, Imperial College London professor Murray Shanahan discusses his work exploring the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence.
From ACM News
What We've Learned About Pluto So Far
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft concluded its tightly choreographed flyby of Pluto, back in July, with a pirouette, pointing its antenna toward Earth.
From ACM News
What Does the Internet Actually Look Like?
It’s difficult to define "the cloud." Even more difficult, perhaps, is photographing it. But that's precisely what Peter Garritano set out to do with his photo essay The Internet.
From ACM Opinion
In 2016, Terror Suspects and 7-Eleven Thieves May Bring Surveillance to Supreme Court
It has now been 2.5 years since the first Snowden revelations were published. And in 2015, government surveillance marched on in both large (the National Security Agency) and small (the debut of open source license plate reader…
From ACM TechNews
Neil Gershenfeld and the Spread of Fab Labs
Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Bits and Atoms, discusses the growth and impact of the Fab Lab project.
From ACM TechNews
Nanowalls For Smartphones
Researchers have used three-dimensional print technology to create a transparent electrode in the form of a grid made of gold or silver "nanowalls" on a glass surface.
From ACM TechNews
'mind Reading' Computer Deciphers Words From Brainwaves
Kyushu Institute of Technology researchers have developed a computer that can read information from brainwaves and decipher words before they are spoken.
From ACM TechNews
Iu Southeast Professors Develop Apps That Help Users Experience Physics Concepts
Two Indiana University Southeast professors have designed free "Mobile Science" applications to make students more experientially familiar with physics concepts.
From ACM News
San Francisco: An Iot City
San Francisco rolls out an Internet of Things network.
From ACM News
Science Can Tell If North Korea's Test Was Really an H-Bomb
It was the whomp felt 'round the world.
From ACM News
Enzyme Tweak Boosts Precision of Crispr Genome Edits
A powerful technique for editing genomes is now more precise.
From ACM News
Andromeda Galaxy Scanned with High-Energy X-Ray Vision
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured the best high-energy X-ray view yet of a portion of our nearest large, neighboring galaxy, Andromeda.
From ACM News
Viterbi wins $500,000 Draper Prize
Qualcomm co-founder Andrew Viterbi has been named to receive the prestigious Charles Stark Draper Prize.
From ACM News
Dutch Government: Encryption Good, Backdoors Bad
The Dutch government has released a statement in which it says that "it is currently not desirable to take restricting legal measures concerning the development, availability and use of encryption within the Netherlands."
From ACM News
How 'do Not Track' Ended Up Going Nowhere
Back in 2010, the Federal Trade Commission pledged to give Internet users the power to determine if or when websites were allowed to track their behavior.
From ACM TechNews
Why Stem's Future Rests in the Hands of 12-Year-Old Girls
Girls are less confident and more anxious about their math abilities than boys, according to an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report.
From ACM TechNews
The Father of Online Anonymity Has a Plan to End the Crypto War
David Chaum, who has invented many cryptographic protocols, has developed an encryption scheme for secret, anonymous communications.
From ACM TechNews
Erica, the 'most Beautiful and Intelligent' Android, Leads Japan's Robot Revolution
Researchers at Osaka and Kyoto universities and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International call "Erica" their most advanced humanoid.
From ACM TechNews
Internet of Things Brings New Era of Weather Forecasting
As the Internet of Things continues to develop, weather systems will collect data from vehicles on the road and wirelessly transmit road condition and weather data.
From ACM TechNews
Project Underway to Preserve Holocaust Experience in Virtual Form
University of Huddersfield researchers are working on the Interact project, which aims to preserve the first-hand accounts of Nazi persecution survivors.
From ACM TechNews
How Drones May Avoid Collisions By Sharing Knowledge
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration is working with more then 130 research teams to determine how to manage drone traffic.