Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2019
From ACM News
Flexible Displays Enter the Picture
Engineers have long attempted to develop flexible displays and devices. The technology is finally becoming a reality.
From ACM News
A Neural Network Can Learn to Organize the World It Sees Into Concepts, Just Like We Do
GANs, or generative adversarial networks, are the social-media starlet of AI algorithms. They are responsible for creating the first AI painting ever sold at an art auction and for superimposing celebrity faces on the bodies …
From ACM News
The Race to Develop the World's Best Quantum Tech
A few days before Christmas, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill into law that devotes more than US $1.2 billion to a national effort dedicated to quantum information science over the next 10 years.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Reality Gets Real in the Operating Room
A growing number of hospitals and medical centers are embracing virtual reality technology to provide better, faster training for resident doctors and surgeons.
From ACM TechNews
CES 2019: 'Family Tech' Gadgets Appeal to Parental Anxiety
This week's CES 2019 highlighted "family tech" products tapping into parental anxiety.
From ACM TechNews
AI vs. the Hackers
Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and various startups increasingly are implementing machine learning algorithms that adapt to hackers' constantly evolving tactics.
From ACM TechNews
STEM Instruction: How Much There Is, Who Gets It
A survey found U.S. students and teachers continue to experience unequal access to science, technology, engineering, and math classes and resources.
From ACM TechNews
Why Your Ice Cream Will Ride in a Self-Driving Car Before You Do
Autonomous vehicles that transport people get lots of media coverage, but autonomous delivery could transform all of retail long before self-driving cars actually hit the road.
From ACM News
A New Approach to Understanding How Machines Think
Been Kim is developing a "translator for humans" so that we can understand when artificial intelligence breaks down.
From ACM News
The American Public is Already Worried about AI Catastrophe
A new report suggests that we expect big advances in software capabilities—and we're nervous.
From ACM News
Earth's Magnetic Field Is Acting p and Geologists Don't Know Why
Something strange is going on at the top of the world. Earth's north magnetic pole has been skittering away from Canada and towards Siberia, driven by liquid iron sloshing within the planet's core.
From ACM TechNews
AI Helps Auto-Loan Company Handle Industry's Trickiest Turn
Prestige Financial Services is among a growing number of lenders using artificial intelligence to digest increasing volumes of data to determine creditworthiness.
From ACM TechNews
German Supplier nveils New Self-Driving Car Computer, Adds Xilinx Chips
German auto parts supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG launched its newest self-driving car computer at CES 2019 in Las Vegas.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Say It's Time to Build an IoT Engineering Discipline
Researchers suggest educational institutions should establish an engineering discipline for the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems.
From ACM TechNews
Tracking Technology Reveals Hidden Animal Migration Routes
Researchers have produced a comprehensive analysis of Wyoming's big game migration patterns, using improved Global Positioning System technology.
From ACM News
Machine Learning Can Offer New Tools, Fresh Insights for the Humanities
Truly revolutionary political transformations are naturally of great interest to historians, and the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century is widely regarded as one of the most influential, serving as a model for building…
From ACM News
Countering Russian Disinformation the Baltic Nations' Way
As the new Congress begins, it will soon discuss the comprehensive reports to the U.S. Senate on the disinformation campaign of half-truths, outright fabrications and misleading posts made by agents of the Russian government …
From ACM News
Another Day, Another Exoplanet: NASA's TESS Keeps Counting More
NASA's new planet-hunting machine, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is racking up scores of alien worlds.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Skills in Most Demand This Year: Data, Cloud, Cybersecurity
A global recruiting firm predicts 68% of information technology employers will increase full-time IT hiring this year, while 53% will increase their use of consultants.
From ACM TechNews
Technology Companies Turn to Apprenticeships in Tight Labor Market
A broad technology industry effort to expand apprenticeships in areas like cybersecurity and software engineering was unveiled this week at CES 2019.
From ACM TechNews
AI Technology Can Identify Genetic Diseases by Looking at Your Face
A new artificial intelligence technology accurately identifies rare genetic disorders using a photo of a patient's face.
From ACM TechNews
Kroger, Microsoft Create Futuristic Grocery Store
Microsoft and the Kroger supermarket chain are collaborating on online grocery shopping.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Simulation Sheds New Light on Colliding Stars
An international research team used supercomputers to run a three-dimensional computer model of a neutron star collision.
From ACM News
IBM Debuts 'niversal Quantum Computer'
Not just a chip, IBM's latest entry is a complete quantum computing system.
From ACM News
Machine Learning Leads Mathematicians to nsolvable Problem
A simple artificial intelligence problem puts researchers up against a logical paradox discovered by famed mathematician Kurt Gödel.
From ACM News
Milky Way to Face a One-Two Punch of Galaxy Collisions
If our knowledge of galaxy structures was limited to the Milky Way, we'd get a lot of things wrong. The Milky Way, it turns out, is unusual.
From ACM Careers
Chinese Tech Investors Flee Silicon Valley as Trump Tightens Scrutiny
New Trump administration policies aimed at curbing China's access to American innovation have all but halted Chinese investment in U.S. technology startups, as both investors and startup founders abandon deals amid scrutiny from…
From ACM TechNews
B-Secur HeartKey Tech nlocks Your Car with nique Rhythm of Your Heartbeat
B-Secur's HeartKey technology allows users to unlock and start their cars via the unique beating pattern of their heart.
From ACM TechNews
The AI Learned to Hide Data From Its Creators to Cheat at Tasks They Gave It
A neural network learned to "hide" information about a source image within the images it generated via a nearly imperceptible, high-frequency signal.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Could Help Students Learn During Extended Absences
The University of Colorado is relying on robots to help students maintain a presence in class, even when they cannot physically be there.