Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
February 2017
From ACM News
The Race to Map the Human Body, One Cell at a Time
The first time molecular biologist Greg Hannon flew through a tumour, he was astonished—and inspired.
From ACM Opinion
Crispr Pioneer Muses About Long Journey from China to Pinnacle of American Science
Feng Zhang occupies a corner office on the 10th floor of the gleaming, modern biotechnology palace called the Broad Institute.
From ACM News
Nasa's Juno to Remain in Current Orbit at Jupiter
NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter, which has been in orbit around the gas giant since July 4, 2016, will remain in its current 53-day orbit for the remainder of the mission.
From ACM TechNews
How We Could Close Tech's Gender Gap in a Decade
The inaugural Girls Who Code Governor's Summit in California last week emphasized solving the U.S. technology industry's lack of gender parity by developing standards and strategies for quantifying efforts to support women and…
From ACM TechNews
Can Artificial Intelligence Predict Earthquakes?
Paul Johnson's research team at Los Alamos National Laboratory is applying artificial intelligence to earthquake prediction, using machine-learning algorithms, supercomputers, and big data storage and analysis.
From ACM TechNews
Tiny 3D-Printed Camera Lens Could Give Drones Vision Like Ours
Researchers at the University of Stuttgart in Germany have created a camera that combines four three-dimensionally-printed lenses to mimic natural vision.
From ACM TechNews
Big Improvements to Brain-Computer Interface
The new glassy-carbon electrodes developed by the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering have the potential to restore movement in people with spinal cord injuries.
From ACM TechNews
Leveraging the Wisdom (and Ignorance) of Crowds
The U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity has announced funding to support large-scale collaboration methods that will improve intelligence analysts' ability to provide accurate, timely analyses of complex issues…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Crashes May Be Due to Forces Beyond Our Solar System
Vanderbilt University professor Bharat Bhuva on Friday gave a presentation on single-event upsets at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
From ACM News
Quantum Computers Finally Go Head-to-Head
In the red corner, weighing in with just five qubits, a quantum computer from the University of Maryland in College Park. In the blue corner, also with five qubits, its rival from IBM.
From ACM News
A Computer to Rival the Brain
More than two hundred years ago, a French weaver named Joseph Jacquard invented a mechanism that greatly simplified textile production.
From ACM News
Europa Mission Heralds Sea Change in the Search For Alien Life
It's not something NASA likes to advertise, but ever since its creation in 1958, the space agency has only conducted one direct, focused hunt for extraterrestrial life—and that was more than 40 years ago.
From ACM News
Neuroscience Misses the Meaning
Examining each transistor in a microprocessor using techniques for analyzing how the human brain works did not yield anticipated understanding.
From ACM TechNews
Gamespace Offers a Playable Visualization of 16,000 Videogames
Researchers have created a playable visualization of 16,000 video games grouped according to shared commonalities such as gameplay, cultural reactions, and game designers.
From ACM TechNews
Ibm's Hub For Wearables Could Have You Out of the Hospital Faster
IBM Research scientists have created a device that siphons health data from multiple wearable devices and shares the results with a patient's doctor.
From ACM TechNews
Breakthrough Wireless Sensing System Attracts Industry and Government Agency Interest
Waggle, a wireless environmental sensing platform that combines environmental sensors with hardware and software for edge computing within a portable node or device, has become very popular among research groups, industry, and…
From ACM News
Nasa's 'pointer' Tracks First Responders Where Gps Fails
That little blue dot likes to mock.
From ACM News
What News-Writing Bots Mean For the Future of Journalism
When Republican Steve King beat back Democratic challenger Kim Weaver in the race for Iowa's 4th congressional district seat in November, The Washington Post snapped into action, covering both the win and the wider electoral …
From ACM News
Nasa: Snow Science Supporting the s Water Supply
Researchers have completed the first flights of a NASA-led field campaign that is targeting one of the biggest gaps in scientists' understanding of Earth's water resources: snow.
From ACM News
Can Artificial Intelligence Predict Earthquakes?
Predicting earthquakes is the holy grail of seismology.
From ACM TechNews
Algorithm Can Create a Bridge Between Clinton and Trump Supporters
Scientists have proposed an algorithmic solution to minimize societal polarization by linking people with opposing viewpoints and assessing them on Twitter.
From ACM TechNews
A New Spin on Electronics
Researchers have successfully demonstrated the production, transport, and detection of electronic spin information at room temperature, using the boundary layer between lanthanum-aluminate and strontium-titanate.
From ACM TechNews
Travel Transformation
Researchers are using high-performance computing tools to analyze data collected from connected-vehicle testing.
From ACM TechNews
STEM Grads' Pay Likely to Be Highest Among Class of 2017
Employers expect Class of 2017 graduates with bachelor's degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) will earn the highest average starting salaries of 2017 graduates.
From ACM TechNews
Software Helps Musicians Stop Slouching By Ruining Their Music
New software identifies when musicians' posture is poor and gives them an audible notification.
From ACM TechNews
Dual-Function Nanorod Leds Could Make Multifunctional Displays
New light-emitting diode arrays can both emit and detect light.
From ACM News
Liar, Liar, Brain on Fire
Brain scans appear to be better at discerning lies than polygraphs are.
From ACM TechNews
AI Predicts Autism From Infant Brain Scans
Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill have detected brain growth changes linked to autism in children as young as six months old.
From ACM TechNews
Protecting Bulk Power Systems From Hackers
New research explores worst-case scenarios in which hackers exploit security weaknesses in the electrical grid to cause equipment failure and blackouts.
From ACM TechNews
Engineers, Computer Scientists Team p to Improve Particle Simulations For Aerospace, More
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are using a $3-million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to use advanced supercomputing to improve particle flow models that could have far-reaching implications for the…