Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2020
From ACM TechNews
White House Urges Researchers to Use AI to Analyze 29,000 Coronavirus Papers
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has called on researchers to use artificial intelligence to analyze scholarly articles to gain insight into the coronavirus.
From ACM TechNews
Bugs in Open Source Software Hit a Record High
The number of open source software vulnerabilities identified rose from 4,100 last year to 6,100 this year, according to security firm WhiteSource.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Revises Passenger Safety Rules for Autonomous Vehicles
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is seeking comment on updated regulations meant to improve automotive passenger safety in autonomous vehicles.
From ACM TechNews
Intel Trains Neuromorphic Chip to Detect Odors
Intel and Cornell University researchers have trained Intel's Loihi neuromorphic processor to identify 10 materials from their odors.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Women in Tech Still Paid Less Than Men
A study of salary survey data by job search site Dice indicated that U.S. women in technology fields still earn less than men overall.
From ACM TechNews
Study Ranks Privacy of Major Browsers
A study of the privacy protection provided by major browsers ranked upstart browser Brave at the top of the list.
From ACM News
Facebook was Marking Legitimate News Articles about the Coronavirus as Spam due to a Software Bug
The company is fixing the posts and bringing them back.
From ACM News
Algorithms Learn Our Workplace Biases. Can They Help Us Unlearn Them?
With the help of intelligent machines, humans can be nudged to make choices that make workplaces fairer for everyone.
From ACM TechNews
Biotech Companies Tap AI to Speed Path to Coronavirus Treatments
Companies seeking treatments for the coronavirus increasingly are using artificial intelligence to speed up their drug-discovery efforts.
From ACM TechNews
Robots on the March to Walking Like Humans
Researchers have found that the better a robot can balance, the better prepared it will be for walking like a human.
From ACM TechNews
Introducing the Light-Operated Hard Drives of Tomorrow
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne created a proof of concept platform for hard drives that will be smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient.
From ACM News
Pioneers of Modern Computer Graphics Recognized with ACM A.M. Turing Award
Hanrahan and Catmull's innovations paved the way for today's 3D animated films.
From ACM News
The Battle Over Autonomous Killing Machines
Should lethal autonomous weapon systems be programmed to strike and kill without direct human oversight?
From ACM TechNews
Record Set for Cryptographic Challenge
A team of computer scientists in France and the U.S. has set a record for integer factorization, a major challenge in the security of most public key cryptography currently in use.
From ACM TechNews
Where AI Jobs are Exploding in Number (It's Not in Silicon Valley)
Four states account for 90% of all ZipRecruiter-advertised jobs requiring advanced artificial intelligence skills, and 60% of all artificial intelligence jobs on the employment marketplace.
From ACM TechNews
Education Robots Offer Leg-Up to Disadvantaged Students
Some education experts think robots can help disadvantaged children.
From ACM TechNews
Panel Outlines Massive Federal Cybersecurity Overhaul
The Congressional Cyberspace Solarium Commission report on the state of cybersecurity in the U.S. included sweeping recommendations for shoring up cyberdefense.
From ACM TechNews
Buffed-Up Avatars Deter Us From Exercising Hard
Researchers demonstrated that virtual reality users are more likely to exercise better when vying with realistic, rather than idealized, avatars of themselves.
From ACM TechNews
Small Robots Could Help Look After Salmon Without Stressing Them Out
Salmon seem to prefer small robots to larger ones, a discovery that could help guide how fish farms are automated.
From ACM TechNews
How Secure Are Four, Six-Digit Mobile Phone PINs?
Information technology security experts assessing personal identification numbers codes for securing smartphones found six-digit PINs offer little more security than four-digit PINs.
From ACM TechNews
Facebook, Twitter Suspend Russian-Linked Operation Targeting African Americans on Social Media
Facebook and Twitter suspended a Russian-linked campaign designed to inflame racial tensions among African Americans in the U.S.
From ACM TechNews
Research Team Develops Voice Localization Techniques for Smart Speakers
Researchers have created a system that uses the Amazon Alexa smart speaker's microphone array in combination with echoes of one’s voice to localize a user's whereabouts.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Firms Seek to Head Off Bans on Facial Recognition
Technology companies increasingly are backing proposed laws that would limit the use of facial recognition systems, in an effort to head off more restrictive bills.
From ACM TechNews
Modern RAM Still Vulnerable to Rowhammer Attacks
Extensive mitigations deployed during the last six years have failed to eliminate modern random-access memory (RAM) cards' vulnerability to Rowhammer exploits.
From ACM TechNews
Showing Robots How to Do Your Chores
A new system allows robots to learn complicated tasks that would normally confuse them with too many complicated rules.
From ACM TechNews
A Filter for Cleaner Qubits
Researchers in Japan have developed a way to increase the lifetime of qubits inside quantum computers, through the use of an additional "filter" qubit.
From ACM TechNews
China Tech Groups Censored Information About Coronavirus
Researchers said Chinese social media platforms censored keywords related to the coronavirus outbreak as early as December, potentially limiting the Chinese public's ability to inform and protect themselves.
From ACM News
Spy in Your Pocket
Smartphones can analyze virtually every aspect of your personality, beliefs, and behaviors.
From ACM News
NSF Announces Quantum Algorithm Challenge, Invites Idea Submissions
A National Science Foundation Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) published March 10 details the NSF's Quantum Algorithm Challenge.
From ACM News
The Cybersecurity 202: Cyber Solarium Commission Aims to Avert a Cyber 9/11 Before it’s Too Late
The group's goal is to make recommendations like those from the 9/11 Commission Report, but before a major disaster in which an adversary could undermine parts of the nation's electrical grid or telecommunications systems.