Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2019
From ACM TechNews
Space Station Experiment Makes Meat in Microgravity Using 3D Bioprinter
A 3D bioprinter fabricated a beef steak aboard the International Space Station thanks to a collaboration of Aleph Farms and 3D Bioprinting Solutions.
From ACM TechNews
An AI Pioneer Wants His Algorithms to Understand the 'Why'
Yoshua Bengio, co-recipient of the 2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award, thinks artificial intelligence will not realize its full potential until it can learn more about cause and effect, which would make existing AI systems smarter and…
From ACM TechNews
La Trobe University Swaps Textbooks for VR, AR
La Trobe University will swap out textbooks for augmented reality and virtual reality to teach anatomy as part of a 12-week pilot program.
From ACM TechNews
Novartis, Microsoft Join Forces to Develop Drugs Using AI
Novartis and Microsoft have agreed to a five-year partnership to use artificial intelligence (AI) to develop new drugs faster, and with greater precision.
From ACM TechNews
Academics Find Vulnerabilities in Android's VoIP Components
Scientists at China's OPPO ZIWU Cyber Security Lab, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Singapore Management University identified eight flaws in Android's Voice-over-Internet-Protocol components.
From ACM TechNews
Your Next Vacation Is Written on Your Face
Travel companies are using sophisticated technology to help understand what people like.
From ACM News
Underwater Drones Make Waves
Underwater drones offer scientists a glimpse into the world's least-known frontier.
From ACM TechNews
That Music You're Dancing To? It's Code
Sonic Pi is a coding language that may be used to construct melodies in real time at live coding shows.
From ACM TechNews
IBM Hackathon Winner Helps Fight Rash of Wasted Food
A group called FreShip was named the winner of IBM’s Food Waste Developer Challenge, a hackathon that tasked U.S. developers to create food-waste-combatting solutions from open source technology.
From ACM TechNews
Decade of Cybersecurity Data Could Predict Future Malicious Online Activity
Researchers have developed a comprehensive dataset of the global cybersecurity threat landscape from 2007 to 2017, to help cybersecurity specialists derive new insights on cybersecurity threats.
From ACM TechNews
Teen Hackers Try to Convince Parents They Are Up to Good
U.S. teenagers are forming hacking clubs and attempting to persuade their parents and teachers that hacking is not necessarily a malign vocation.
From ACM TechNews
System Helps Smart Devices Find Their Position
A new system helps networks of smart devices find their positions in environments where GPS usually fails.
From ACM TechNews
App Detects Eye Disease in Personal Photos
Baylor University researchers have developed a free smartphone app that uses machine learning to flag eye disease from personal photos, as much as a year ahead of clinical diagnosis.
From ACM TechNews
'It's Going to be a Revolution': Driverless Cars in New London Trial
Driverless cars completed their first major street test in London this week.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Steps Up Scrutiny of Airplane Cybersecurity
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has revived a program to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities in aviation, in conjunction with the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
From ACM TechNews
People Are Overconfident About Identifying Phishing Emails
The results of a new study suggest that people may be overconfident in their ability to identify email phishing scams.
From ACM TechNews
France Set to Roll Out Nationwide Facial Recognition ID Program
France is set to become the first European country to use facial recognition technology to provide its citizens secure digital identities.
From ACM TechNews
Ransomware Forces Hospitals to Turn Away All but Most Critical Patients
Ransomware has crippled hospitals in Alabama and Australia, blocking admission for all but the most critical new patients.
From ACM News
Women in STEM: No Simple Answers
National averages of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions vary greatly, for many reasons.
From ACM TechNews
Military Drones Now Common to Nearly 100 Nations, Report Finds
A report by researchers at Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone estimated that 95 countries currently own unmanned military drones—up from 60 in 2010.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft, MasterCard, Hewlett Foundation Launch Institute to Investigate Cyberattacks
Microsoft, MasterCard, the Hewlett Foundation, and other organizations have jointly announced the launch of an institute to probe cyberattacks and help their victims.
From ACM TechNews
UBC Study Highlights Need to Improve Healthcare Access in Vancouver, Portland, Seattle
A study by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada yielded a data science technique for analyzing how easily citizens can access hospitals and walk-in health clinics.
From ACM TechNews
Lawmakers Warn About Threat of Political Deepfakes by Creating One
Two U.S. congressmen created an artificial intelligence-doctored political video to demonstrate the threat such disinformation presents.
From ACM TechNews
PDFex Attack Can Exfiltrate Data from Encrypted PDF Files
Researchers in Germany have developed a new attack that can extract and steal data from encrypted Portable Document Format (PDF) files, sometimes without user interaction.
From ACM TechNews
Ready, Set, Algorithms! Teams Learn AI by Racing Cars
Amazon Web Services developed the DeepRacer League, a competition designed to teach a branch of artificial intelligence known as reinforcement learning.
From ACM TechNews
EPFL Researchers Invent Low-Cost Alternative to Bitcoin
Researchers in Switzerland have developed a system that represents a new, low-cost way to think about cryptocurrencies.
From ACM TechNews
Decades-Old Code Putting Millions of Critical Devices at Risk
Recently discovered vulnerabilities in a nearly 20-year-old industry standard network protocol from Interpeak could potentially make millions of devices exploitable.
From ACM TechNews
High-Tech Sensors May Be Key to Autonomous Cars
Some companies are considering the use of high-tech sensors to address self-driving cars' limited ability to safely maneuver in traffic and see clearly in all weather conditions.
From ACM TechNews
UPS Drones Win FAA Milestone Permission to Take Off Shackles
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted United Parcel Service permission to fly delivery drones under regulations similar to airline rules, with few restrictions.
From ACM TechNews
Twenty-Seven Countries Sign Cybersecurity Pledge with Digs at China, Russia
Twenty-seven countries signed a joint cybersecurity pledge in a lead-up to the U.N. General Assembly's General Debate last week.