Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2013
From ACM TechNews
Researcher Says Science Is Very Social
Researchers are using computers to study social networks, in order to identify the next revolution in social science.
From ACM TechNews
Layered '2-D Nanocrystals' Promising New Semiconductor
A new type of semiconductor technology under development is based on two-dimensional nanocrystals layered in sheets less than a nanometer thick.
From ACM TechNews
Iowa State Researchers Discover Possible Route to Terahertz Storage Speeds
Ultra-short laser pulses and special materials can be used to switch magnetism about 1,000 times faster than current storage devices, say researchers.
From ACM News
Crowdsourced Videos, Photos Could Aid Boston Blast Investigations
Law enforcement officials could have something very different on their hands as they investigate the dual bomb blasts that struck the Boston Marathon finish line today: a potential abundance of photo and video evidence from the…
From ACM Opinion
Human Genome, Then and Now
Eight years of work, thousands of researchers around the world, $1 billion spent—and finally it was done.
From ACM News
Justices Consider Whether Patents on Genes Are Valid
The Supreme Court is poised to take up the highly charged question of whether human genes can be patented. But another question could trump it: Has the field of genetics moved so far so fast that whatever the court decides, it…
From ACM News
Where Are the Best Windows Into Europa's Interior?
The surface of Jupiter's moon Europa exposes material churned up from inside the moon and also material resulting from matter and energy coming from above.
From ACM TechNews
New App Powers Better Sanitation in Developing World
The new Web and mobile application Taarifa could give millions of people in Africa the power to instantly report problems with poor sanitation.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Develop Computer Games to Keep Miners Safe
Researchers are developing interactive computer games to train miners to avoid fatal accidents and potential emergencies while working in mines.
From ACM TechNews
Breaking Moore's Law: How Chipmakers Are Pushing Pcs to Blistering New Levels
Chipmakers are engaged in projects to greatly accelerate personal computer speed and power, despite coming up against the limits of Moore's Law.
From ACM TechNews
Cloud's Real Ecological Timebomb: Wireless, Not Data Centers
A new report warns that the growing use of cellular and Wi-Fi networks to access cloud services is more of an ecological threat than the energy consumption of cloud data centers.
From ACM TechNews
Wireless Smart Meter Measures How Much Power You Use
An inexpensive wireless device can monitor the power consumption of home appliances.
From ACM TechNews
Nasa, Air Force Define Cutting-Edge Next-Gen Space Computer
NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate have issued a call for R&D into a next-generation computer system for spacecraft.
From ACM TechNews
Tiny Technology Could Spark Revolution in House Buying
A new near-field communication tag can be placed discreetly near the entrance of a property, and prospective buyers can touch it with their smartphone to access information on the house.
From ACM News
Hacker Says Phone App Could Hijack Plane
Could this be the deadliest smartphone app ever?
From ACM Opinion
How Technology Is Slowly Developing Its Sense of Smell
Last week I attended what was, I think it is fair to say, the oddest conference I have been to yet. It was the first world congress of the Digital Olfaction Society (tagline: "The Smell of Digital"), the stated goal of which…
From ACM News
Q&a: Hacker Culture, Coding, and Free Speech
Anthropologist E. Gabriella Coleman, author of Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking, is fascinated by hacker culture, and with its notion that software should be free and treated as free speech.
From ACM News
Mathematicians Predict the Future With Data From the Past
In Issac Asimov's classic science fiction saga Foundation, mathematics professor Hari Seldon predicts the future using what he calls psychohistory.
From ACM News
Coming Soon: A Truly Chinese Internet
Replete with its own thriving news portals, social media, and gaming sites, the Chinese Internet could take a major step toward becoming fully Chinese by the end of the year.
From ACM News
Never Mind Facebook; Winklevoss Twins Rule in Digital Money
The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler—Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg—are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Reality Creates Infinite Maze in a Single Room
A new virtual reality system enables users to step into a labyrinth and wander an endless maze of rooms and corridors, but without actually leaving their living rooms.
From ACM TechNews
Mechanical Computer Flexes Its Muscle
An artificial, muscle-based computer could have significant potential for the field of robotics.
From ACM TechNews
New Kit Pumps Up 3D Feedback
Lancaster University scientist Eduardo Velloso is building on the technology behind his augmented reality-based feedback system to link computers to emotions.
From ACM TechNews
Advancing Secure Communications: A Better Single-Photon Emitter For Quantum Cryptography
Researchers say they have developed a more efficient single-photon emitter than can be made using traditional semiconductor processing techniques.
From ACM TechNews
A Smartphone to Verify Halal Products the Upm Way
The smartphone application MyHalal uses Android-based mobile devices to scan the barcode of a product to confirm its halal status from a database. I
From ACM News
Tiny Chiplets: A New Level of Micro Manufacturing
Under a microscope, four slivers of silicon—electronic circuits called chiplets—perform an elaborate, jerky dance as if controlled by a hidden puppet master.
From ACM News
Nasa 2014 Budget: More For Asteroids, Less For Planets and Education
The White House released its requested federal budget yesterday, which includes NASA funding.
From ACM News
Obama Budget Makes Cybersecurity a Growing .s. Priority
President Barack Obama proposed on Wednesday increased spending to protect U.S. computer networks from Internet-based attacks in a sign that the government aims to put more resources into the emerging global cyber arms race.
From ACM TechNews
Redesigned Material Could Lead to Lighter, Faster Electronics
A new technique generates one-atom-thick sheets of germanium that it conduct electrons more than 10 times faster than silicon.
From ACM TechNews
AT&T Researchers Set a Long-Haul Data Record
A new method increases the distance that large amounts of data can travel through a fiber-optic connection.