Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2017
From ACM TechNews
AI Could Transform the Science of Counting Crowds
The University of Central Florida has been developing artificial intelligence solutions to relieve crowd scientists from the task of manually counting heads.
From ACM TechNews
App Improves Medication Adherence For Heart Stent Patients
University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have developed software that helps heart patients with drug-eluting stents correctly take their medications.
From ACM News
D-Wave pgrade: How Scientists Are sing the World's Most Controversial Quantum Computer
The company that makes the world's only commercially available quantum computers has released its biggest machine yet—and researchers are paying close attention.
From ACM News
US Intelligence Seeks a Universal Translator For Text Search in Any Language
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), the US Intelligence Community’s own science and technology research arm, has announced it is seeking contenders for a program to develop what amounts to the ultimate…
From ACM TechNews
Hipeac Vision Report Advocates Reinvention of Computing
The European Network on High Performance and Embedded Architecture and Compilation, or HiPEAC, on Monday published a report calling for "the reinvention of computing."
From ACM TechNews
Your (social Media) Votes Matter
A recent study demonstrates how a single up/down vote on Reddit dictates the content users see on the site.
From ACM TechNews
Your Android Device's Pattern Lock Can Be Cracked Within Five Attempts
Researchers have found attackers can crack Android's Pattern Lock security system within five attempts by using video and computer-vision software.
From ACM TechNews
Brief Interventions Help Online Learners Persist With Coursework, Stanford Research Finds
Assuring learners from less-developed countries they belong and affirming their core values can help them succeed in massive open online courses, according to a study led by Stanford University.
From ACM TechNews
Smart Automation
Researchers at the Singapore-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alliance for Research and Technology have spent the last several years developing autonomous vehicles as part of the Future of Urban Mobility Research Program…
From ACM TechNews
AI Software Learns to Make AI Software
Several research organizations are working to create artificial intelligences that can in turn develop machine-learning software.
From ACM News
Legal Battle Over Overseas Microsoft Data Could Be Headed For Supreme Court
A federal appeals court is letting stand a ruling in a closely watched case holding that Microsoft need not comply with a U.S. government demand for data stored overseas.
From ACM News
Noaa's Goes-16 Satellite Sends First Images of Earth
Since the GOES-16 satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral on November 19, scientists, meteorologists and ordinary weather enthusiasts have anxiously waited for the first photos from NOAA's newest weather satellite, GOES-16, …
From ACM News
Gene-Modified Ants Shed Light on How Societies Are Organized
Whether personally or professionally, Daniel Kronauer of Rockefeller University is the sort of biologist who leaves no stone unturned.
From ACM TechNews
Taming Data
A new big data management system aims to simplify the process of aggregating large datasets for analysis.
From ACM TechNews
The Internet Is Sick
The Mozilla Foundation's new Internet Health Report identifies obstacles that undermine entrepreneurship and democracy online.
From ACM TechNews
csf, Intel Join Forces to Develop Deep Learning Analytics For Healthcare
The University of California, San Francisco and Intel are using deep-learning techniques to power a scalable platform to deliver clinical decision support and predictive analytics to healthcare professionals.
From ACM News
The Road to Progress
Smarter roads will pave the way to a future with smoother, more efficient transportation.
From ACM News
Military Program Produces Gadget That Detects Machinery from Behind a Concrete Wall
The U.K.'s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory is based at a restricted military base in Porton Down, not far from the ancient monument of Stonehenge in southwest England.
From ACM News
The Ftc Has Sued D-Link Over nsecure Routers and Webcams
Part of an ongoing effort to secure the Internet of Things.
From ACM News
Superfast Camera Sees Shock Wave from Light
A camera system that captures a snapshot of overlapping light waves in a tiny fraction of a second could lead to new methods for imaging, allowing scientists to watch the brain’s neurons interacting or see neutrinos colliding…
From ACM News
How to Learn Morse Code—semiconsciously
Learning Morse code, with its tappity-tap rhythms of dots and dashes, could take far less effort—and attention—than one might think.
From ACM TechNews
Heartbeat Could Be sed as Password to Access Electronic Health Records
Binghamton University researchers say they have developed a way to protect personal electronic health records using a patient's own heartbeat.
From ACM TechNews
Microbiologists Make Big Leap in Developing 'green' Electronics
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered a type of microbial nanowire that could help researchers develop sustainable conducting materials for electronic devices.
From ACM TechNews
.s. Soldiers Will Be Armed With Machine Translators to Kill Communication Woes
The U.S. military will soon reach full deployment of its Machine Foreign Language Translation System, which runs on military and commercial devices.
From ACM TechNews
Soft Robot Helps the Heart Beat
Researchers have developed a customizable soft robot that twists and compresses in sync with a beating heart, augmenting cardiovascular functions compromised by heart failure.
From ACM TechNews
Data Mining Solves the Mystery of Your Slow Wi-Fi Connection
Researchers at Tsinghua University in China have discovered why slow or failed Wi-Fi connectivity happens and how to avoid it, by measuring the time it took for 400 million different Wi-Fi sessions to connect.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Build Carbon Nanotube Transistors That Outperform Those Made with Silicon
Researchers at Peking University in China say they have built a carbon nanotube-based working transistor that outperforms larger transistors made with silicon.
From ACM News
What Better Way For the Marines to Prepare For Future Wars Than With Sci-Fi?
Lance Cpl. Steven West steps into a remote enemy hideout clad in a 350-pound exoskeleton, sensors piercing the darkness and displaying digital info on his helmet visor, until a shock of static feedback knocks him to the dirty…
From ACM News
Impact of Job-Stealing Robots a Growing Concern at Davos
Open markets and global trade have been blamed for job losses over the last decade, but global CEOs say the real culprits are increasingly machines.
From ACM TechNews
Brainwaves Could Act as Your Password--but Not If You're Drunk
Rochester Institute of Technology have found that although brainwave readings can accurately authenticate someone's identity about 94% of the time, there could be confounding factors, such as whether the subject is inebriated…