Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2017
From ACM TechNews
Amoeba-Like Robot Programmed With Dna
Researchers have developed a tiny robotic system that is programmed and controlled by DNA and moves like a living cell.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Store Computer Operating System and Short Movie on Dna
Researchers have found an algorithm designed for streaming video on a cellphone can unlock DNA's storage potential by squeezing more data into its four base nucleotides.
From ACM News
Predicting Lawsuits
Deep learning yields the ability to forecast the potential for litigation.
From ACM News
Magnetic Hard Drives Go Atomic
Chop a magnet in two, and it becomes two smaller magnets.
From ACM News
How the Cia's Hacking Hoard Makes Everyone Less Secure
When Wikileaks yesterday released a trove of documents purporting to show how the CIA hacks everything from smartphones to PCs to smart televisions, the agency's already shadowy reputation gained a new dimension.
From ACM TechNews
Robots Could Look, Feel 'human' on the Outside
Researchers say technology is available to enable robots to "wear" human tendons, muscle, and skin.
From ACM TechNews
The Darknet Protects Itself By Being More Robust Against Attacks
Researchers have found the darknet is especially good at protecting users' privacy and anonymity because it can counter large cyberattacks on its own by spontaneously adding more network capacity.
From ACM TechNews
Top Obstacles For Women in Technology
Women face major barriers when working in technology fields, including wage inequality compared to male colleagues, workplace gender bias, a shortage of female role models, and unequal growth opportunities.
From ACM TechNews
Steering a Turtle With Your Thoughts
Researchers have developed a brain-computer interface that can control a turtle using human thought.
From ACM TechNews
Aging Faces Could Increase Security Risks
Researchers are studying how facial aging affects the performance of automatic facial-recognition systems and what implications this could have on identifying criminals or determining when identification documents need to be …
From ACM TechNews
Language Learning Robot Could Advance Autonomous Vehicles, Help Emergency Responders in the Future
Researchers have developed algorithms that enable a wheeled robot to learn the meanings of words from sentences that describe example paths taken by the robot, to use the words to generate a sentence to describe the path of movement…
From ACM News
Quantum Microscope Offers Mri For Molecules
A quantum microscope that uses a sensor built from diamonds could allow researchers to study such nanoscale mysteries as how DNA folds in a cell, why drugs work or how bacteria metabolize metals.
From ACM News
Wikileaks: The CIA Is Using Popular Tvs, Smartphones and Cars to Spy on Their Owners
The latest revelations about U.S. government's powerful hacking tools potentially takes surveillance right into the homes and hip pockets of billions of users worldwide, showing how a remarkable variety of every day devices can…
From ACM TechNews
Mathematician Breaks Down How to Defend Against Quantum Computing Attacks
A mathematician has created and released software that could protect encrypted code from hackers armed with next-generation quantum computers.
From ACM TechNews
Tracking the Movement of Cyborg Cockroaches
North Carolina State University's cyborg cockroaches can be remotely controlled to carry technology that could scan disaster areas and identify survivors in the wake of catastrophes.
From ACM TechNews
Google Computers Trained to Detect Cancer
Google has developed a new breast cancer detection technique that utilizes machine learning, predictive analytics, and pattern recognition to train a computer to search for cell patterns in tissue slides.
From ACM News
How Hard Is It to Get an Intelligence Wiretap? Pretty Hard.
Wiretaps on Americans in foreign intelligence investigations are not easy to get. And if you're a candidate for president, it's even harder.
From ACM News
Modeling Gun Violence as a Contagion
Using data to try to keep people from getting shot.
From ACM News
Baxter the Robot Fixes Its Mistakes By Reading Your Mind
Baxter is but a child, with bright eyes and a subtle grin.
From ACM News
To Keep Tor Hack Source Code Secret, Doj Dismisses Child Porn Case
Rather than share the now-classified technological means that investigators used to locate a child porn suspect, federal prosecutors in Washington state have dropped all charges against a man accused of accessing Playpen, a notorious…
From ACM TechNews
Kids Want Parental Help With Online Risk, but Fear Parental Freak Outs
Researchers found teens rarely talked to their parents about potentially risky online experiences.
From ACM TechNews
sing Game Theory to Predict Cyberattacks on Elections and Voting Machines
An algorithm based on game theory can be used to protect against efforts to tamper with election results.
From ACM TechNews
Social Media Algorithm Says Trump 'tweets Like a Bachelor'
Researchers have developed an algorithm that predicts a user's marital status with 86% accuracy using data from Twitter, Foursquare, and Instagram.
From ACM TechNews
Software Engineers Have Figured Out a Way to Turn Charts Into Music For the Blind
Legally blind SAS software engineer Ed Summers in February guided the company's release of a free browser plug-in that scans Web pages for graphs or charts and translates them into piano notes.
From ACM TechNews
Artificial Data Give the Same Results as Real Data--Without Compromising Privacy
The Synthetic Data Vault is a new machine-learning system that automatically creates synthetic data, which can be used in data science efforts that otherwise would be thwarted due to limited access to authentic data.
From ACM TechNews
Singing Posters and Talking Shirts: Uw Engineers Turn Everyday Objects Into Fm Radio Stations
Researchers are enabling everyday objects to communicate directly with smartphones and car radios and transmit information to them.
From ACM News
How Rival Bots Battled Their Way to Poker Supremacy
Artificial-intelligence programs harness game-theory strategies and deep learning to defeat human professionals in two-player hold'em.
From ACM News
2017 Cra Distinguished Service and A. Nico Habermann Awardees Announced
The Computing Research Association board of directors is pleased to announce its selections for the 2017 CRA Awards.
From ACM News
How Rival Bots Battled Their Way to Poker Supremacy
A complex variant of poker is the latest game to be mastered by artificial intelligence (AI). And it has been conquered not once, but twice, by two rival bots developed by separate research teams.
From ACM News
Nasa Orbiter Steers Clear of Mars Moon Phobos
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft performed a previously unscheduled maneuver this week to avoid a collision in the near future with Mars' moon Phobos.