Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2015
From ACM Careers
Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software's neasy Glare
Before Betsy Chao, a senior here at Rutgers University, could take midterm exams in her online courses this semester, her instructors sent emails directing students to download Proctortrack, a new anti-cheating technology.
From ACM TechNews
Gotcha! Ultra-Realistic Robot Proves There's More Than One Way to Scare a Fish
Researchers have developed bio-inspired robotic models that serve as controllable stimuli for experiments studying animal behavior.
From ACM TechNews
Making Big Data Work
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a framework for working with big data.
From ACM TechNews
Computers That Mimic the Function of the Brain
Northwestern University researchers have developed a new type of memristor technology that can remember how much current has flowed through it.
From ACM Careers
Jay Edelson, the Class-Action Lawyer Who May Be Tech's Least Friended Man
When technology executives imagine the boogeyman, they see a baby-face guy in wire-rim glasses. His name is Jay Edelson.
From ACM TechNews
Expert Panel Discusses Issue of New Principles For Internet Governance
A panel of Internet experts recently addressed the question of what kind of Internet users want.
From ACM News
Teaching a Computer Not to Forget
Imagine if every time you learned something new, you completely forgot how to do a thing you'd already learned.
From ACM News
Puzzle of Moon's Origin Resolved
A nagging problem at the heart of the leading theory of how the Moon formed seems to have been explained away.
From ACM News
Mlb Is Supercharging Its Stats System with Radar and AI
For all the Brad Pitt-fueled hype, sabermetric analysis is still only as good as the systems that capture data from the field—who hit what to whom.
From ACM TechNews
Is Your Robot a Little Cheeky? Google May Build It That Way
Google is developing robots that have individual personalities.
From ACM TechNews
Why Women Won't Code Is Topic of New Documentary
Film director Robin Hauser Reynolds was inspired to create her new documentary about the gender gap in computer science by the experience of her daughter.
From ACM TechNews
Planes Without Pilots
Modern airplanes are highly automated, but some researchers say there is room to automate planes even further.
From ACM TechNews
Coding For a More Open Cuba
Technology experts will gather at Facebook's Menlo Park, CA, headquarters later this month to participate in the Code for Cuba hackathon.
From ACM TechNews
Connecting Vehicles
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are developing a computational framework for connected-vehicle technologies that facilitates communication.
From ACM TechNews
Nasa, IBM Team Up on Global Hackathon to Solve Earth's Problems
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration this weekend will hold its fourth annual space apps hackathon.
From ACM News
Dawn in Excellent Shape One Month After Ceres Arrival
Since its capture by the gravity of dwarf planet Ceres on March 6, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has performed flawlessly, continuing to thrust with its ion engine as planned. The thrust, combined with Ceres' gravity, is gradually guiding…
From ACM News
This Working Computer Is Smaller Than a Grain of Rice
The University of Michigan's Micro Mote is an autonomous computer programmed and charged via light, which could be used for a variety of medical and industrial purposes.
From ACM News
Planes Without Pilots
Mounting evidence that the co-pilot crashed a Germanwings plane into a French mountain has prompted a global debate about how to better screen crewmembers for mental illness and how to ensure that no one is left alone in the…
From ACM TechNews
Know Instantly How Much Privacy a Website Visit Costs You
An Italian researcher has developed algorithms that can calculate the privacy costs of websites.
From ACM News
Brain Compass Implant Gives Blind Rats Psychic Gps
Who needs sight to get around when you've got a digital compass in your head?
From ACM TechNews
niversity Receives Grant to Prevent Cyberbullying
Rutgers University has received a U.S. National Science Foundation grant to develop a system that automatically detects cyberbullying.
From ACM TechNews
How Cybersecurity Became Your Problem
Cyberattacks threaten to rise in frequency and complexity, which makes every person using modern technology a potential target.
From ACM News
How Google Is Making Sure Cows Won't Foil Its Self-Driving Cars
Most of us haven't had a cow wander on to a road in front of us while we're driving. Still, it's the type of situation Google is wisely anticipating.
From ACM News
What Are the Colors of Alien Life?
Just before it became the first man-made vessel to leave the solar system, in 1990, Voyager 1 took a portrait of Earth, some four billion miles away.
From ACM Careers
The Hackathon Fast Track, From Campus to Silicon Valley
Shariq Hashme squints at his laptop screen as he scrolls through hundreds of lines of computer code.
From ACM News
Metamaterial Radar May Improve Car and Drone Vision
Plenty of people play with small drone aircraft in their backyards these days.
From ACM Opinion
Hbo's John Oliver Hits Snowden Hard on Nsa Leaks
Edward Snowden and an unlikely interviewer squared-off on HBO over the leaks that exposed the National Security Agency's extensive surveillance programs.
From ACM TechNews
Professor Uses Online Data to Predict Future Fashion Trends
A Pennsylvania State University team is collecting and analyzing data in an attempt to make fashion trends comprehensible to the average person.
From ACM TechNews
Eek! How Your Face Reveals Your Body's Real Age
A new study used three-dimensional facial images to predict biological age in a human population, to detect those aging quickly and slowly.
From ACM TechNews
Sabina, New Domestic Service Robot
New software enables a domestic service robot to learn under user guidance via remote control, voice commands, or by being shown the tasks.