Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2021
From ACM News
Andrew Chi-Chih Yao Receives 2021 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology
Yao contributed to cutting-edge research in areas including security, secure computing, and quantum computation.
From ACM News
Bipartisan Bill Takes Aim at Algorithms
The bill would require Internet platforms to let people use a version of their services where content is not selected by "opaque algorithms" driven by personal data.
From ACM News
The Next Generation of AI-Enabled Cars Will Understand You
In-cabin sensors can help customize the passenger experience.
From ACM TechNews
First Global River Database Documents 40 Years of Change
A new database shows the movement of the river centerlines of the 48 most threatened deltas in the world over the past 40 years.
From ACM TechNews
Social Media Is Reshaping British Universities' Value Systems in Scramble for Likes, Shares
Researchers at the U.K.'s University of Cambridge found universities' value judgments about research have been tied to social media platforms.
From ACM TechNews
Tracked Bottom-Crawling Robot Gathers Valuable Deep-Sea Data
The Benthic Rover II robot has spent seven years collecting deep-sea data 140 miles off California's coast.
From ACM TechNews
Key Witness Helps Scientists Detect 'Spooky' Quantum Entanglement in Solid Materials
Researchers have devised a viable "quantum entanglement witness" for proving the existence of spooky quantum entanglement in solid materials.
From ACM News
Making Sense With Biology
Hybrid systems enhance the capabilities of electronics with biologics.
From ACM News
The Next Generation of Home Robots will be More Capable — and Perhaps More Social
Tech titans and upstarts alike are working to deepen our relationships with their robots.
From ACM News
Meta to Remove Thousands of Sensitive Ad-Targeting Categories
Shielding users' interests in topics like race, health, religion, and politics.
From ACM TechNews
Senators Launch Bipartisan Women in STEM Caucus
U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen and Shelley Moore Capito have launched a bipartisan caucus to unlock more opportunities for women and girls in STEM careers.
From ACM TechNews
Congress Mandates Technologies to Stop Drunk Driving
The U.S. Congress is requiring automakers to develop technologies that prevent drunk driving.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Use Robotic Animals to Learn About Real Ones
Scientists are using robots that realistically interact with animals, to gain insights into the animals’ social dynamics.
From ACM TechNews
Walmart Using Fully Driverless Trucks to Ramp Up Online Grocery Business
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is using fully driverless trucks for its online grocery business.
From ACM TechNews
Want to Throw Off Your Chatbot? Use Figurative Language
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego wrote a simple script that identifies figurative phrases and replaces them with their literal meaning, as a means of improving the performance of dialogue systems like chatbots…
From ACM TechNews
Chinese Computer Scientist Awarded Kyoto Prize for Work Playing 'Vital Role in Modern Society'
Japan's Inamori Foundation has named Chinese computer scientist Andrew Yao Chi-chih recipient of the international Kyoto Prize in advanced technology.
From ACM TechNews
Enrollment Algorithms Raise Equity Concerns in Higher Ed
Algorithms that decide how colleges and universities apportion financial aid could be unfairly filtering out applicants and reducing their aid offers.
From ACM TechNews
Search Engines Often Return Inaccurate Health Info, Research Says
Researchers at Germany's Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Russia's Ural Federal University found search engines often return inaccurate health information.
From ACM TechNews
World Bank Program Looks to Blockchain to Solve Carbon Emissions Data Issues
The World Bank's Climate Warehouse program is consulting with cryptocurrency startups like the Chia Network to build a "public-good layer" for climate.
From ACM TechNews
Boxing Body Uses AI Vetting of Judges to Restore Trust
The International Boxing Association used an artificial intelligence system to evaluate judges and referees before clearing them for the current men's world championships.
From ACM TechNews
Drone at Pennsylvania Electric Substation First to 'Specifically Target Energy Infrastructure'
A July 2020 drone crash was the first known case of a "modified unmanned aircraft system likely being used in the U.S. to specifically target energy infrastructure."
From ACM TechNews
Australia Says U.S. Facial Recognition Software Firm Clearview Breached Privacy Law
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner said Clearview AI violated domestic privacy laws by collecting images from Websites without Australians' consent.
From ACM TechNews
Botnet Buster Finds IoT Command and Control Centers
University of California, Riverside computer scientists have developed a tool that cripples botnets by fooling them into exposing their Internet of Things command and control servers.
From ACM News
Surprisingly Smart Artificial Intelligence Sheds Light on How the Brain Processes Language
Neuroscientists find the internal workings of next-word prediction models resemble those of language-processing centers in the brain.
From ACM News
A New Quantum Computing Method is 2,500% More Efficient
A quantum computing breakthrough just brought applications years closer.
From ACM News
Machine Learning System Gives Robots Social Skills
A new machine-learning system helps robots understand and perform certain social interactions.
From ACM News
Tim Berners-Lee Wants to Put Online Privacy on a Solid Foundation
Said Berners-Lee, "The tracks are laid, the trains are ready to run, trusted data is ready to flow."
From ACM TechNews
Most Popular, Fastest-Growing Programming Languages for Developers
SlashData's 21st State of the Developer Nation Report listed JavaScript as the most popular programming language in the third quarter.
From ACM TechNews
Antibiotic Resistance Outwitted by Supercomputers
An international team of scientists used supercomputing to strengthen existing antibiotics' effectiveness against bacterial resistance.
From ACM TechNews
Algorithm Predicts When Teens are Likely to Have Suicidal Thoughts, Behavior
Researchers have developed an algorithm which they say is 91% accurate in predicting suicidal thoughts and behavior (STB) among adolescents.