Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2015
From ACM News
Pluto's Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has returned the best color and the highest resolution images yet of Pluto's largest moon, Charon—and these pictures show a surprisingly complex and violent history.
From ACM News
Hidden Gps Devices to Track Suspects Raise Legal Concerns
For months, police trying to solve a Long Island robbery spree had little more to go on than grainy surveillance footage of a man in a hoodie and black ski mask holding up one gas station or convenience store after another.
From ACM TechNews
New Tech Automatically 'tunes' Powered Prosthetics While Walking
Researchers have developed an algorithm that can automatically tune powered prosthetic legs.
From ACM TechNews
Meet Seemore: Maker Faire's Mesmerizing 256-Node Computer Cluster
One of the centerpieces of the recent World Maker Faire in New York City was SeeMore, an animatronic sculpture designed to illustrate the concept of parallel computing.
From ACM TechNews
IBM Scientists Find New Way to Shrink Transistors
IBM scientists on Thursday reported they have found a method to make transistors from parallel rows of carbon nanotubes.
From ACM TechNews
Thought Process: Building an Artificial Brain
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is funding a pair of parallel projects to understand the nature of intelligence.
From ACM TechNews
Disney Research's Smart Lightbulbs Connect Toys & Devices
Disney is considering using light-emitting diode lightbulbs to create an Internet of Toys in which toys could be accessed, monitored, and acted on remotely.
From ACM News
Nasa Selects Investigations For Future Key Planetary Mission
NASA has selected five science investigations for refinement during the next year as a first step in choosing one or two missions for flight opportunities as early as 2020.
From ACM News
A Magical Answer to an 80-Year-Old Puzzle
Can you devise a series of steps to avoid hazards two paces to either side of you, even if you are forced to take every second, third or Nth step in your series?
From ACM Opinion
Fighting Isis Online
The two men pecked out messages on opposite sides of the country.
From ACM News
Court Reaffirms Ftc Authority to Prosecute Cybersecurity Breaches
The ruling underscores corporate responsibility to protect consumer data.
From ACM News
A Peek Inside Google's Efforts to Create a General-Purpose Robot
Videos of Google-owned robots, some that look like mechanical bulls and others resembling humanoids from sci-fi movies, have been viewed more than 90 million times online.
From ACM News
Hawaii's Deepest Secret
Earth's concentric layers scale remarkably well to those of a peach.
From ACM TechNews
CLA Scholar Examines Complexities of Data-Sharing in Four Research Projects
University of California, Los Angeles professor Christine Borgman and her team are studying how researchers handle and share information in a data-intensive setting.
From ACM TechNews
$2m Project to se Video Game to Engage Rural Maine Students in Computer Science, Math
University of Maine researchers will use the popular open-world video game Minecraft to introduce the basics of programming to rural fifth-to-eighth graders in the state.
From ACM TechNews
Moon-Landing Equivalent For Robotics: Assembling an Ikea Chair
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore are developing a robot that will be able to assemble an IKEA chair.
From ACM TechNews
Wrangling Proteins Gone Wild
McGill University researchers have developed a software suite designed to accelerate the process of drug discovery for a wide range of diseases.
From ACM News
How a Single Car Could Spread Malware to Thousands More
Over the last summer, the security research community has proven like never before that cars are vulnerable to hackers—via cellular Internet connections, intercepted smartphone signals, and even insurance dongles plugged into…
From Communications of the ACM
Cyber Policies on the Rise
A growing number of companies are taking out cybersecurity insurance policies to protect themselves from the costs of data breaches.
From Communications of the ACM
Scientists Update Views of Light
Experiment sheds new light on wave-particle duality.
From Communications of the ACM
Automotive Systems Get Smarter
Automotive infotainment systems are driving changes to automobiles, and to driver behavior.