Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
February 2016
From ACM News
Can Technology Help S Improve pon Reality?
Imagine walking on Mars and being able to examine rock formations from all angles, or collaborating on the same 3D hologram design with someone thousands of miles away.
From ACM TechNews
How to Build an nbeatable Poker-Playing Robot
The allure of building superior poker-playing computer programs is the chance to tackle the challenge of dealing with missing information.
From ACM TechNews
nited Nations Cito: Artificial Intelligence Will Be Humanity's Final Innovation
United Nations chief information technology officer Atefeh Riazi emphasizes artificial-intelligence innovation as the next nexus of human technological advancement.
From ACM TechNews
On-Chip Random Key Generation Done sing Carbon Nanotubes
A new process uses carbon nanotubes to randomly wire part of a chip, which is then used to generate cryptographic information.
From ACM TechNews
Dartmouth Researchers Invent 'magic Wand' to Improve Healthcare, Cybersecurity
A digital "magic wand" developed by Dartmouth College researchers makes it easy for people to connect their devices to Wi-Fi.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Are Developing Shape-Shifting Fluid Robots
Bar-Ilan University researchers say they have created fluid robots that could operate better than solid robots in chaotic, hostile environments.
From ACM Careers
Apple Case Highlights Struggles Cios Face in Balancing Privacy, Law Enforcement Requests
As technology advances, there's a delicate balance between individual privacy and law enforcement’s requests for information.
From ACM News
On-Chip Random Key Generation Done sing Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes are small and can be semiconducting, which makes lots of people excited about using them as a replacement for features etched in silicon.
From ACM News
Heal Thyself!
Researchers are developing electronic components that have the ability to recognize damage and repair themselves.
From ACM News
What Would Happen If Aliens Contacted Earth?
Nearly 40 years ago, radio astronomer Jerry Ehman was scanning a part of the sky hoping to detect a signal from an alien civilisation.
From ACM News
Dna Tags Help the Hunt For Drugs
Nestled in a plastic box, in an ordinary laboratory freezer on the second floor of a concrete building in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a clear test tube that contains a concoction of astronomical proportions.
From ACM TechNews
Robots Can Now Flawlessly Iron Clothes
A newly developed robot can iron a shirt after analyzing the subtle ridges in a laid-out garment with two sensors made from Xbox Kinects.
From ACM TechNews
Software Can Identify You By the Way You Walk in Cctv Footage
Computer scientists in the Czech Republic have developed software designed to work with closed-circuit TV footage that can identify people based on the way they walk.
From ACM TechNews
Engineering Material Magic
A team led by University of Utah professor Ashutosh Tiwari says it has discovered a new kind of two-dimensional semiconducting material for electronics.
From ACM News
Does Apple Win Even If It Loses?
It is a battle for public opinion almost as much as it is for the law.
From ACM News
Tiny, Blurry Pictures Find the Limits of Computer Image Recognition
Computers have started to get really good at visual recognition.
From ACM News
Nasa Introduces New, Wider Set of Eyes on the niverse
After years of preparatory studies, NASA is formally starting an astrophysics mission designed to help unlock the secrets of the universe—the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
From ACM News
Apple Sees Value in Its Stand to Protect Security
It took six years for Apple to persuade China's largest wireless carrier, China Mobile, to sell the iPhone.
From ACM TechNews
First Evidence For the Happiness Paradox--That Your Friends Are Happier Than You Are
Mathematical analysis has demonstrated the validity of the claim that most people's friends have more friends than they do.
From ACM TechNews
Digital Baby Project's Aim: Computers That See Like Humans
A cognitive psychology experiment has revealed differences in how humans and computers see images, says Weizmann Institute of Science professor Shimon Ullman.
From ACM TechNews
White House Wants to Train K-12 Students to Be Nation's Future Cyber Defense
A $4-billion effort encouraging U.S. public schools to offer computer science courses is part of a longer-term effort to fill the shortage of federal cyber experts.
From ACM TechNews
Faster Airport Queues With Facial Recognition
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have developed facial-recognition technology that could automate security checks at airports.
From ACM TechNews
How the .s. Fights Encryption--and Also Helps Develop It
Some U.S. government agencies are financing the development of encryption technologies to protect communications even as others seek to circumvent them.
From ACM TechNews
Brain Scan For Artificial Intelligence Shows How Software Thinks
Israel Institute of Technology researchers have developed a new technique for taking snapshots of neural networks as they work through a problem.
From ACM News
Apple's Fbi Battle Is Complicated. Here's What's Really Going On
The news this week that a magistrate ordered Apple to help the FBI hack an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooter suspects has polarized the nation—and also generated some misinformation.
From ACM News
Pluto's 'hulk-Like' Moon Charon: A Possible Ancient Ocean?
Pluto's largest moon may have gotten too big for its own skin.
From ACM News
Ted 2016: Hololens nveils 'teleportation' to Mars
HoloLens creator Alex Kipman has shown off Microsoft's augmented reality technology at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference.
From ACM TechNews
Inspiring Computer Scientists
University of Delaware professor Lori Pollock has been selected to receive the ACM SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award.
From ACM TechNews
Google's Balloon-Powered Internet Ready For Carrier Testing
Google's Project Loon, which aims to deliver Internet connectivity via a global network of high-altitude balloons, could be ready for carrier testing later this year.
From ACM TechNews
Eternal 5d Data Storage Could Record the History of Humankind
Researchers have developed recording and retrieval processes for five-dimensional digital data by femtosecond laser writing.