Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2020
From ACM TechNews
What If Underwater Robots Could Autonomously Dock Mid-Mission to Recharge, Transfer Data?
A new mobile docking system for autonomous underwater vehicles extends their performance without human intervention.
From ACM TechNews
Augmented Reality Offers Promise of Incision-Free Autopsies
Forensic and digital healthcare experts envision the incorporation of virtual/augmented reality into forensic science.
From ACM TechNews
An Open Source Bionic Leg
University of Michigan researchers have released details online of the design of an open source bionic leg, and the results of its clinical tests.
From ACM TechNews
Smartwatches Could Predict Your Marathon Time With Increased Accuracy
Researchers at the French National Center for Scientific Research have developed a mathematical model for more accurately predicting race times from the data assembled by smartwatches.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Use Eye Tracking to Discover How Mobile Apps Grab Our Attention--With Surprising Results
An international study has yielded insights into how mobile applications capture attention.
From ACM TechNews
This 'Squidbot' Jets Around, Takes Pics of Coral, Fish
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have constructed a self-powered squid-like robot that can swim via water-jet propulsion and record data on coral and fish with a camera or other sensor.
From ACM Careers
Trump Moves to Tighten Visa Access for High-Skilled Foreign Workers
The Trump administration has announced stricter rules for the H-1B visa program, which U.S. tech companies have long valued.
From ACM TechNews
The Cyber-Avengers Protecting Hospitals From Ransomware
The Cyber Threat Intelligence League aims to protect hospitals and health systems around the world from cyberattacks as they deal with Covid-19 cases.
From ACM TechNews
Contact Tracing: England's Long-Awaited App Hits 10 Million Downloads
The U.K. National Health Service's Covid-19 contact tracing app hit 10 million downloads just four days after its release.
From ACM TechNews
Digital Identity Checks to Be Expanded Under A$800M Technology Budget Package
Australia's government will broaden the use of digital identity checks when businesses and individuals access services online.
From ACM News
The Future of the Supply Chain
Experts agree supplies increasingly will be near-sourced.
From ACM News
CMU Scientists Solve 90-Year-Old Geometry Problem
The math puzzle was resolved by translating it into satisfiability problem.
From ACM TechNews
Flawed Algorithm Used to Determine U.K. Welfare Payments Is 'Pushing People Into Poverty'
Human Rights Watch warns a flawed algorithm for calculating monthly social security benefits in Britain is causing hunger, debt, and psychological distress.
From ACM TechNews
GitHub Launches Code Scanning to Unearth Vulnerabilities Early
GitHub last week launched a code-scanning tool to help developers identify flaws in code prior to its public rollout.
From ACM TechNews
AI Helping Scientists Discover Fresh Craters on Mars
A machine learning tool is helping to identify newly made craters on the surface of Mars.
From ACM TechNews
Australia's Report on Agtech Confirms Technology Can Lead to Fertile Future
A new report says emerging technologies could enhance the productivity, diversity, and profitability of Australia's agricultural sector.
From ACM TechNews
Critical Flaws Discovered in Popular Industrial Remote Access Systems
Researchers found critical defects in two popular industrial remote access systems that attackers could exploit.
From ACM TechNews
AI Can Detect Covid-19 in the Lungs Like a Virtual Physician, Study Shows
Researchers developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that is almost as accurate as a physician in diagnosing Covid-19 in the lungs and distinguishing Covid-19 cases from influenza.
From ACM TechNews
Clinical Trials Hit by Ransomware Attack on Health Tech Firm
Philadelphia-based software provider eResearch Technology was hit two weeks ago by a ransomware attack that has slowed clinical trials.
From ACM TechNews
Report Shows It Could Take 12 Years to Reach Equal Representation of Women in Tech
Women technologists account for 28.8% of the technology workforce this year, up from 25.9% in 2018 and 26.2% in 2019, according to AnitaB.org's 10th annual "Top Companies for Women Technologists" report.
From ACM TechNews
Engineers Link Brains to Computers Using 3D Printed Implants
Engineers have developed a prototype three-dimensionally-printed implant that can be used to create brain-computer interfaces.
From ACM TechNews
Hacker Releases Information on Las Vegas-Area Students After Officials Don't Pay Ransom
A hacker who locked computer servers in Las Vegas' Clark County School District with ransomware released documents with stolen private data after officials refused to pay the ransom.
From ACM TechNews
IBM to Open-Source Space Junk Collision Avoidance
Researchers are working on an open source project to determine and predict the orbits of anthropogenic space objects (ASOs)—man-made space debris—in order to avoid collisions.
From ACM TechNews
Take-Off for U.K.-Built Supercomputer Nanosatellites
The U.K. this week launched four shoebox-sized "nanosatellites" into low Earth orbit.
From ACM Careers
America's Innovation Edge Now in Peril, Report Says
A sweeping report from Baker Institute and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences urges significant policy and funding action to ensure the United States does not lose its preeminent position in discovery and innovation.
From ACM News
Pentagon Is Clinging to Aging Technologies, House Panel Warns
Despite the Pentagon's talk of embracing quantum computing and artificial intelligence, the politics of killing off old weapons systems is so forbidding that the efforts often falter.
From ACM TechNews
One of This Year's Most Severe Windows Bugs Is Now Under Active Exploit
Microsoft warns a high-impact vulnerability that allows hackers to instantly take control of Windows' Active Directory is being actively exploited by malicious hackers.
From ACM TechNews
In Facial Recognition Challenge, Top-Ranking Algorithms Show Bias Against Black Women
Facial recognition algorithms have higher false-positive and lower false-negative rates for Black women, eyeglass wearers, and young children.
From ACM TechNews
IST Researchers Exploit Vulnerabilities of AI-Powered Game Bots
A new algorithm trains an adversarial bot to automatically identify and exploit the weaknesses of master game bots trained by deep reinforcement learning algorithms.
From ACM TechNews
Astronomers Model, Determine How Disk Galaxies Evolve So Smoothly
New computer models demonstrate how massive clumps of interstellar gas scatter some stars from their orbits and create galaxy disks with bright centers that fade to dark edges.