Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2014
From ACM TechNews
Superconducting Circuits, Simplified
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a nanocryotron , a computing circuit based on the cryotron.
From ACM Opinion
To Siri, With Love
Just how bad a mother am I? I wondered, as I watched my 13-year-old son deep in conversation with Siri.
From ACM News
Miss a Payment? Good Luck Moving That Car
The thermometer showed a 103.5-degree fever, and her 10-year-old's asthma was flaring up. Mary Bolender, who lives in Las Vegas, needed to get her daughter to an emergency room, but her 2005 Chrysler van would not start.
From ACM News
Cassini Caught in Hyperion's Particle Beam
Static electricity is known to play an important role on Earth's airless, dusty moon, but evidence of static charge building up on other objects in the solar system has been elusive until now.
From ACM TechNews
Computing with Magnetic 'Tornadoes'
A new technology could dramatically reduce the power consumption of computers.
From ACM TechNews
Going Viral with Emergency Warnings
A new social media-based platform will allow San Diego County's Office of Emergency Management Services to disseminate emergency-related messages quickly.
From ACM TechNews
Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Arms That Work in Daily Life Are Now a Reality
A new osseointegrated, or bone-anchored, artificial limb implant system gives patients new opportunities in their daily lives.
From ACM TechNews
Robot From Twente to Save Lives in the Alps
The SHERPA project involves cooperation between human rescue workers, a ground robot with a robotic arm, and flying robots.
From ACM TechNews
Why Are Women Leaving Science, Engineering, And Tech Jobs?
A survey says U.S. women working in science, technology engineering, and math fields are 45 percent more likely than males to leave the industry over the next year.
From ACM News
Ebola: Can Big Data Analytics Help Contain Its Spread?
The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa has now claimed more than 4,000 lives.
From ACM News
Fbi Director Warns Against Cellphone Encryption
FBI Director James Comey warned in stark terms Thursday against the push by technology companies to encrypt smartphone data and operating systems, arguing that murder cases could be stalled, suspects could walk free and justice…
From ACM News
ESA Confirms the Primary Landing Site for Rosetta
ESA has given the green light for its Rosetta mission to deliver its lander, Philae, to the primary site on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November, in the first-ever attempt at a soft touchdown on a comet.
From ACM TechNews
Internet Caretaker Icann to Escape U.s. Control
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers chief Fadi Chehade says the organization is on course to break free of U.S. oversight next year.
From ACM TechNews
Samsung's Futuristic Wi-Fi Tech Is Five Times Faster Than Today's Wireless Networks
Samsung says it is developing 802.11ad Wi-Fi technology that uses the 60GHz frequency band to increase network speeds fivefold, to 4.6Gbps.
From ACM TechNews
Uh to Develop New Wireless Communications Systems to Serve Remote Areas
Research at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Hawaii Center for Advanced Communications seeks to improve wireless communication in remote areas.
From ACM Careers
Accessibility Claims Expected Over Websites
Businesses should brace for a new crop of so-called "accessibility" lawsuits alleging that their commercial websites fail to comply with federal disabled-access law, lawyers say.
From ACM TechNews
Snakes and Snake-Like Robots Show How Sidewinders Conquer Sandy Slopes
Researchers have improved the ability of a snake-like robot to traverse sandy slopes by examining how real-life snakes move.
From ACM News
Shellshock Awakens Bourne-Again Zombies
A bug appears in places people didn’t think to look, or patch.
From ACM News
Rosetta Mission Selfie at 16 Km
Using the CIVA camera on Rosetta’s Philae lander, the spacecraft have snapped a "selfie" at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko from a distance of about 16 km from the surface of the comet.
From ACM News
How to Make a Black Hole
On July 2, 1967, a network of satellites designed to detect tests of nuclear weapons recorded a flash of gamma rays coming from the wrong direction—outer space.
From ACM News
Nasa Mission Provides Its First Look at Martian Upper Atmosphere
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has provided scientists their first look at a storm of energetic solar particles at Mars, produced unprecedented ultraviolet images of the tenuous oxygen, hydrogen…
From ACM News
Solid Nanoparticles Can Deform Like a Liquid
A surprising phenomenon has been found in metal nanoparticles: They appear, from the outside, to be liquid droplets, wobbling and readily changing shape, while their interiors retain a perfectly stable crystal configuration.
From ACM TechNews
Automatic Authors: Making Machines That Tell Tales
Many artificial intelligence researchers believe one of the major breakthroughs in AI will be creating systems that are effective story-tellers.
From ACM TechNews
Hacking Their Way to Gender Equality
About 60 high school and college-age women participated in the 2014 International Women's Hackathon on the campus of California State University San Marcos.
From ACM TechNews
Geospatial Data Project Puts Major Issues on the Map
A project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation aims to create a Web-based system for hosting, processing, analyzing, and sharing geospatial data.
From ACM TechNews
Robot Gets a Driving Lesson For DARPA Challenge
One of the most difficult tasks at next year's U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency robotic challenge finals will be having a robot drive and then get out of a car.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Jobs: Minorities Have Degrees, but Don't Get Hired
Top universities graduate minority computer science and engineering students at twice the rate that leading technology companies hire them, according to USA Today.
From ACM TechNews
Australian Teams Set New Records for Silicon Quantum Computing
University of New South Wales researchers say they have developed two types of quantum bits that each process data with an accuracy of greater than 99 percent.
From ACM News
Nobel Prize: How English Beat German as Language of Science
Permafrost, oxygen, hydrogen; it all looks like science to me.
From ACM News
Nasa Prepares its Science Fleet For Oct. 19 Mars Comet Encounter
NASA's extensive fleet of science assets, particularly those orbiting and roving Mars, have front row seats to image and study a once-in-a-lifetime comet flyby on Sunday, Oct. 19.