Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2020
From ACM News
Global Losses from Cybercrime Skyrocketed to Nearly $1 trillion in 2020, Report Finds
IP theft and financial crime account for at least 75% of cyber losses and pose the greatest threat to companies, according to the report.
From ACM TechNews
Not to Be Sneezed At: How 3D Printing Is Supersizing the Tiny World of Pollen
Oliver Wilson at the U.K.'s University of Reading has created a platform for three-dimensionally printing oversized models of pollen grains from high-quality scans
From ACM TechNews
Study Outlines What Creates Racial Bias in Facial Recognition Technology
A study has identified the underlying factors that engender racial bias in facial recognition technology.
From ACM TechNews
Google's AI Can Keep Loon Balloons Flying for Over 300 Days in a Row
An artificially intelligent pilot can keep huge stratospheric balloons aloft in a fixed position for hundreds of days to operate as floating cell towers for remote regions.
From ACM News
New RISC-V CPU Claims Recordbreaking Performance per Watt
Micro Magic's new CPU offers decent performance with record-breaking efficiency.
From ACM News
JavaScript at 25: The Programming Language that Makes the World Go Round
JavaScript is now the world's most popular programming language, even though it started off as a sidekick to Java.
From ACM News
Google Reveals Major Hidden Weakness In Machine Learning
Deep learning algorithms are prone to a previously unknown problem, say a team of computer scientists at Google.
From ACM News
Police Drones Are Starting to Think for Themselves
In one Southern California city, flying drones with artificial intelligence are aiding investigations while presenting new civil rights questions.
From ACM TechNews
Voice Assistant Recordings Could Reveal What Someone Nearby Is Typing
A machine learning system can be used with voice assistants to detect typing on touchscreens nearby, using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to determine what is being typed.
From ACM TechNews
Robot Hands One Step Closer to Human, Thanks to WMG AI Algorithms
Artificial intelligence algorithms enable the Shadow Robot Dexterous Hand to manipulate objects like humans do.
From ACM TechNews
Army Computer Models Unveil Secret to Quieter Small Drones
Researchers demonstrated how aviation specialists can use computational fluid dynamics to facilitate development of quieter unmanned aerial drones.
From ACM News
Cyberattacks Discovered on Vaccine Distribution Operations
IBM has found that companies and governments have been targeted by unknown attackers, prompting a warning from the Homeland Security Department.
From ACM TechNews
Computing Empowers Immune Cells to Kill Cancer
A team of computer scientists and bioengineers has developed a method of engineering T cells to recognize a specific combination of cancer markers.
From ACM TechNews
Mathematicians Apply 19th Century Ideas to Modern Computerized Algebra Systems
Mathematicians have added new symbolic integration functionality to the Sage computerized algebra system.
From ACM TechNews
Does AI in Healthcare Need More Emotion?
Emotion artificial intelligence applications in healthcare are rare, with many scientists skeptical of the technology's utility.
From ACM TechNews
How Humans Use Objects in Novel Ways to Solve Problems
Researchers have developed a cognitive model that learns to use objects in novel ways to solve problems, like humans do.
From ACM News
Exploring 'Data Storytelling'
Conversational interfaces provide spoken responses to queries of business databases.
From ACM TechNews
Search and Rescue Drones Use AI to Find People Lost in Woods
New drones are equipped with a deep learning application that improves the images they collect during search and rescue missions to better distinguish people from their surroundings.
From ACM TechNews
Disney Is Teaching Robots How to Sculpt with Clay
Researchers created a system that allows human artists to train robots to sculpt clay, with tools that allow them to emulate artistic styles.
From ACM TechNews
AI Can Turn Spoken Language Into Photorealistic Sign Language Videos
Researchers at the U.K.'s University of Surrey employed a neural network to render spoken language as sign language.
From ACM TechNews
Do You Have a Conflict of Interest? This Robotic Assistant May Find It First
A Swiss publisher of open-access journals has rolled out a robotic review assistant to check for potential conflicts of interest.
From ACM News
London AI Lab Claims Breakthrough That Could Accelerate Drug Discovery
Researchers at DeepMind say they have solved "the protein folding problem," a task that has bedeviled scientists for more than 50 years.
From ACM TechNews
A Neural Network Learns When It Should Not Be Trusted
Researchers have enabled a neural network to rapidly process data, yielding both predictions and confidence levels based on the quality of the available data.
From ACM TechNews
China's Xi Jinping Pushing for Global Covid QR Code
Chinese president Xi Jinping has called for a uniform set of policies and standards to ensure the "smooth functioning" of the global economy during the pandemic.
From ACM TechNews
Deep Learning Helps Robots Grasp, Move Objects with Ease
New artificial intelligence software integrates neural networks with motion-planning software to enable robots to assist humans in warehouse settings.
From ACM News
Rethinking Public Broadband
U.S. infrastructure shortcomings re-ignite public/private debate over broadband.
From Communications of the ACM
Technologies for the Visually Impaired
The last decade has seen major advancements in technology for the blind and visually impaired, but problems remain.
From Communications of the ACM
Softening Up Robots
Giving robots soft, artificial skin would enable them to work more closely with people.
From Communications of the ACM
Tracking COVID, Discreetly
Tracing the contacts of those who come into contact with the coronavirus is not that simple.