Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2015
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Find Same Rsa Encryption Key sed 28,000 Times
Researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London have found that several million Internet hosts are still vulnerable to the FREAK flaw in the SSL/TLS encryption protocol disclosed earlier this month.
From ACM TechNews
Data Structures Influence Speed of Quantum Search in Unexpected Ways
Although intuition says searching for data in a network would be fastest in a highly connected database, this logic does not hold for quantum computing, according to research by Tom Wong at the University of Latvia and UCSD professor…
From ACM TechNews
Google's Eric Schmidt Downplays Fears Over Artificial Intelligence
Google chairman Eric Schmidt suggested fear over artificial intelligence (AI) is overblown during a keynote address at the South by Southwest Conference with author Walter Isaacson and U.S. chief technology officer Megan Smith…
From ACM TechNews
Seven Strategies For Keeping Women in STEM Fields
The 28-member Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering Working Group has developed a seven-point plan for achieving gender equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
From ACM News
Cars Could Learn to Drive Themselves from Human Behavior
Object recognition makes up one part of autonomous car technology, but then comes the question of what the car does in response to what it detects.
From ACM News
#rosettawatch: New Clues About the Origin of Comet 67p
Philae, the European Space Agency probe that landed on and then bounced across the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in November, has provided researchers with a wealth of data that they are now eagerly digging through…
From ACM TechNews
Robots Take Over the Ironing
Researchers funded by the European Union have developed a state-of-the-art robot capable of organizing fabrics, textiles, and garments, then folding them neatly.
From ACM News
New Keys to Data Security
An intelligent keyboard can tell who you are, and power itself from your typing.
From ACM News
Mercury Seen As Never Before
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is set to plunge to its doom on 30 April, ending nearly four years of exploration of Mercury. Before it goes, the mission is sending back the best images of the planet ever taken.
From ACM TechNews
Google's Go Language Is Off to a Great Start, but Still Has Work Ahead
Google's open source Go programming language has its pros and cons.
From ACM TechNews
DARPA Accelerates ltimate Automated Pilot Software
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded its first contracts to vendors to build an automated system designed to reduce pilot fatigue.
From ACM TechNews
Linux Adopts Conflict Resolution Code
To reduce conflicts within the Linux development community, the group has adopted a new code of conduct that comes in the form of a Linux patch.
From ACM News
Google's Eric Schmidt Downplays Fears Over Artificial Intelligence
Arguably the most alarming part of concerns over artificial intelligence's potential to end human civilization is the voices that are speaking out.
From ACM News
A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! It's Secret
A powerful new surveillance tool being adopted by police departments across the country comes with an unusual requirement: To buy it, law enforcement officials must sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost…
From ACM News
Five Solar System Sights Nasa Should Visit
It's show time for NASA's planetary programme.
From ACM Opinion
So Sayeth Google
Search for "vaccines." At least within our filter bubble, the top item in Google's "In the news" section earlier this week was an anti-vax column about the "feds' plan to force vaccines on adults."
From ACM News
Pagerank Algorithm Reveals World's All-Time Top Soccer Team
Google's Pagerank algorithm has become one of the most famous in computer science. It was originally designed to rank websites according to their importance by assuming that a site is important if it is linked to by other important…
From ACM TechNews
In Pursuit of the Perfectly Animated Cloud of Smoke
Researchers have developed a way to enhance graphical simulations, which they say may soon be used for medical and engineering applications and video games.
From ACM TechNews
Bbc Unveils Micro Bit Coding Device For Make It Digital Initiative
The BBC plans to offer a coding device to more than 1 million U.K. schoolchildren as part of its Make it Digital Initiative.
From ACM TechNews
Teaching Programming to Preschoolers
Researchers are developing a system that enables young children to program interactive robots by placing stickers on laminated sheets of paper.
From ACM TechNews
Electrical Engineering Employment Declines Nearly 10%, but Developers up 12%
The number of people working as electrical engineers declined by 29,000 last year, even as the number of software developers increased by 132,000.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Industry's Future Rooted in Blend of Design, Computer Science
Startups as well as large tech firms now realize their products need to be both visually appealing and deliver great user experiences.
From ACM TechNews
Stanford Launches Smartphone App to Study Heart Health
A new iPhone app called MyHeart Counts enables researchers to collect data about users' physical activity and cardiac risk factors.
From ACM TechNews
Developing Infrastructure For Data Sharing Around the World
Twice a year, members of the Research Data Alliance meet face-to-face at plenary meetings worldwide to coordinate activities and advance their efforts.
From ACM News
Rover Arm Delivers Rock Powder Sample
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its robotic arm Wednesday, March 11, to sieve and deliver a rock-powder sample to an onboard instrument. The sample was collected last month before the team temporarily suspended rover arm movement…
From ACM News
Magnetic Brain Stimulation
Researchers at MIT have developed a method to stimulate brain tissue using external magnetic fields and injected magnetic nanoparticles—a technique allowing direct stimulation of neurons, which could be an effective treatment…
From ACM News
Robot vs. Robot
Beautiful mathematical patterns are hidden in the chaos of Jackson Pollock’s famous drip paintings.
From ACM Careers
On Pi Day, How Scientists Use This Number
If you like numbers, you will love March 14, 2015.
From ACM TechNews
DARPA to Pursue 'revolutionary' Privacy Tools
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is launching a program aimed at developing a system to keep personal and proprietary information private.
From ACM TechNews
Googlers' Epic Hack Exploits How Memory Leaks Electricity
Researchers have demonstrated they could bypass security protections to induce electromagnetic leakage in the dynamic random access memory of some laptops.