Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2014
From ACM TechNews
A Face to Remember
Researchers have developed a way to change profile photos to highlight a person's most memorable facial features.
From ACM TechNews
Brain-Derived Computing Beyond Von Neumann
In an interview, Heidelberg University professor Karlheinz Meier discusses the emerging field of neuromorphic computing.
From ACM TechNews
Wikipedia Searches and Sick Tweets Predict Flu Cases
A new algorithm mines data from Wikipedia to track flu cases across the United States.
From ACM News
Russia Displays a New Military Prowess in kraine's East
Secretary of State John Kerry has accused Russia of behaving in a "19th-century fashion" because of its annexation of Crimea.
From ACM News
U.s. Aims to Defuse Tension Over Control of Internet
The U.S. has agreed to give up supervision of the Internet policy-making body that controls domain names, hoping to satisfy countries that want more international control over the Internet.
From ACM News
Is There Anything Beyond Quantum Computing?
A quantum computer is a device that could exploit the weirdness of the quantum world to solve certain specific problems much faster than we know how to solve them using a conventional computer.
From ACM News
Gambling with Computers
Researchers are turning to computers, big data, and sophisticated algorithms to improve the odds of picking a winner.
From ACM News
Jupiter's Radio Emissions Could Reveal the Oceans on Its Icy Moons, Say Planetary Geologists
Among the most exciting destinations in the Solar System are Jupiter's icy moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
From ACM News
Excitons Observed in Action for the First Time
A quasiparticle called an exciton—responsible for the transfer of energy within devices such as solar cells, LEDs, and semiconductor circuits—has been understood theoretically for decades. But exciton movement within materials…
From ACM TechNews
Fit to Be Tried
A team of electrical and computer engineering students has created a virtual dressing room for a design project.
From ACM TechNews
Computer-Assisted Accelerator Design
Brookhaven National Laboratory scientist Stephen Brooks is testing proposed designs for an electron accelerator for the lab's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.
From ACM TechNews
Google Algorithm Busts Captcha With 99.8 Percent Accuracy
The algorithm used by Google's Street View team to improve Google Maps also can beat CAPTCHAs with 99.8-percent accuracy.
From ACM News
How to Build a Neanderthal
The DNA sequences of Neanderthals and other extinct human relatives have exposed lost migrations, sexual escapades and even new species.
From ACM News
What Makes an Alien Intelligent?
On Thursday, astronomers announced that they'd reached a new milestone in the search for Earth's "twin," or a planet much like ours that orbits in what's known as the Goldilocks Zone—not too close to its star, nor too far away…
From ACM Opinion
The Fuzzy Math Behind the Search For Mh370
Five weeks into the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, more than $30 million has been spent scouring great swatches of the southern Indian Ocean.
From ACM News
The Telescope Big Enough to Spot Signs of Alien Life on Other Planets
Cerro Armazones is a crumbling dome of rock that dominates the parched peaks of the Chilean Coast Range north of Santiago.
From ACM News
Aereo Analysis: Cloud Computing at a Crossroads
The question of whether online broadcast television is to remain in the hands of a stodgy industry that once declared the VCR the enemy is being put directly before the Supreme Court.
From ACM TechNews
Criminal Gang Connections Mapped via Phone Metadata
Software has been used to tap metadata from phones to map links between a criminal network in Sicily.
From ACM TechNews
Design Flaw in 'secure' Cloud Storage Puts Privacy at Risk, Jhu Researchers Say
Researchers have found a flaw in the way secure cloud storage companies protect their customers' data, which could jeopardize the privacy protections they offer.
From ACM TechNews
U.s. Promotes Network to Foil Digital Spying
A group of academics and computer enthusiasts have used the Tunisian town of Sayada as a test site for a local network that is physically independent from the Internet.
From ACM TechNews
Ant Colonies Help Evacuees in Disaster Zones
Researchers in Japan have developed a system that can map escape routes for disasters based on the behavior of ant colonies.
From ACM TechNews
Google ses Algorithms to Create Slr-Like Photos
Google has developed an algorithm that can generate photographic images with a depth of field similar to pictures taken by a single lens reflex camera.
From ACM TechNews
Sheffield Team Shows Simplicity Is Key to Cooperative Robots
Engineers have found a way to get a large number of robots to cluster together and execute tasks without using any memory or processing power.
From ACM TechNews
A Small Connection With Big Implications: Wiring Up Carbon-Based Electronics
Researchers say they have advanced comprehension of electric contacts in carbon-based nanoelectronics with a breakthrough development.
From ACM News
Trouble with Russia, Trouble with the Law: Inside Europe's Digital Crime Unit
Four black brick towers search upwards to an empty grey sky.
From ACM News
Biometric Surveillance Means Someone Is Always Watching
Incrimination by selfie can happen.
From ACM News
Watch the Astounding Dexterity of Honda's Dancing Humanoid Robot
Even in today's rapidly evolving world of technology, there are few things that make your jaw drop when you see them in real life.
From ACM TechNews
Combs of Light Accelerate Communication
Miniaturized optical frequency comb sources can enable the transmission of data streams of several terabits per second over hundreds of kilometers.
From ACM TechNews
Hopkins Code Cracks Baseball Scheduling
A new system fulfills all of a baseball league's scheduling rules, and as many of the teams' requests and preferences as possible, using thousands of lines of code.
From ACM TechNews
Soft Wear: Computer Simulated Design Is Tailoring the Future Fashion Industry
Researchers have developed software that can simulate the making of complex clothing.