Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2020
From ACM TechNews
Pay Users to Spot Bias in AI, Say Top Researchers
Leading researchers have proposed a system of financially rewarding users to spot bias in algorithms.
From ACM News
Doctors are Using AI to Triage COVID-19 patients. The Tools May Be Here to Stay
Faced with staff shortages and overwhelming patient loads, a growing number of hospitals are turning to automated tools to help them manage the pandemic.
From ACM News
ACM Members Named to AAAS
Eight ACM members were among the 276 artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders named 2020 members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
From ACM News
Wi-Fi is Getting its Biggest Upgrade in 20 years
From ACM TechNews
Optical Labs Set Terabit Transmission Records
Researchers were able to send 172 terabits per second of data through a single multicore fiber.
From ACM TechNews
Ford , Volkswagen Smart Cars May Come With Some Major Security Risks
A study by independent consumer body Which? found serious security flaws in connected cars from Ford and Volkswagen.
From ACM TechNews
Satellites Are Helping to Track Food Supplies in Coronavirus Era
Demand is on the rise for alternative data that show how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting industries and trade worldwide.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Propose a Privacy-Preserving Communication Protocol for AI Training, Inference
A team of researchers has developed an end-to-end framework for secure computation of artificial intelligence models and batch normalization.
From ACM News
Connecticut Suburb Deploys 'Pandemic Drones' to Try to Enforce Social Distancing
The suburban town of Westport, CT, is deploying specialized police drones to yell at people who aren't standing six feet apart.
From ACM News
AI for Drug Design
Artificial intelligence allows the screening of billions of molecules, until you find the one(s) you want.
From ACM TechNews
U.K. Parliament Votes to Continue Democracy by Zoom
U.K. lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously voted to hold a "virtual Parliament" to maintain the machinery of democracy via the Zoom videoconferencing platform.
From ACM TechNews
France Says Apple Bluetooth Policy Is Blocking Virus Tracker
France said Apple's Bluetooth policy is delaying a government contact-tracing application designed to contain the coronavirus.
From ACM TechNews
Australia's Fire Season Ends, Researchers Look to the Next One
The effectiveness of many technologies being developed to cope with wildfires in Australia hinges on the ability to predict how fuel types like eucalyptus trees will impact a given fire.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Throws Weight Behind Open Data Movement
Microsoft has announced its support for the open data movement.
From ACM TechNews
Rus Named to White House Science Council
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Daniela Rus has been selected to serve on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
From ACM TechNews
Programming Languages: Kotlin Rises Fastest but JavaScript Lures Millions More Developers
Kotlin has been the fastest-growing programming language over the past two years, according to developer analyst SlashData.
From ACM TechNews
Algorithm Maps Where Fashions Originate, How They Spread Around the World
A new machine learning algorithm can recognize new fashions, then use images of them to seek similar styles styles in a global database of geotagged images.
From ACM TechNews
Coronavirus Disruption Puts Supply Chain Software to the Test
Software firms are strengthening their algorithms as the coronavirus outbreak stresses food supply chains.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Model Predicts How Drugs Affect Heart Rhythm
A new computer model can screen drugs for unintended cardiac side effects, such as arrhythmia.
From ACM News
COBOL Programmers are Back In Demand. Seriously.
States race to upgrade their legacy mainframe systems to meet the cascade of unemployment claims caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
From ACM News
Will ‘Big Data’ Restore Active Managers’ Mojo?
Sophisticated tech used to gather and analyze information may be able to improve returns, but the data isn't showing it.
From ACM News
Silicon Valley is Racing to Build the Next Version of the Internet. Fortnite Might Get There First.
In recent years, there's been serious talk about how to build the Metaverse, the next version of the Internet, and who will build it first.
From ACM News
Coronavirus Forces Silicon Valley to Reset its Moral Compass
The coronavirus pandemic has stirred up a missionary zeal throughout Silicon Valley.
From ACM TechNews
ACM Reports Best Practices for Virtual Conferences
A new report from ACM outlines best practices for replacing live science and technology conferences with virtual ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From ACM TechNews
Raspberry Pi-Powered Ventilator to Be Tested in Colombia
A robotics engineer with no prior experience developed and posted online plans for a ventilator made from a Raspberry Pi computer and easy-to-source parts.
From ACM TechNews
With Coronavirus Closing Schools, Here's How Video Games are Helping Teachers
The quarantine caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted teachers to utilize popular video games to conduct lessons on a range of topics.
From ACM TechNews
NASA Using Red and Blue 3D Glasses to Drive Mars Rover While Working From Home
Planners are remotely piloting the Curiosity rover on Mars while working from home.
From ACM TechNews
Can't Scout Players in Person? The NFL Turns to Brooklyn Startup
The National Football League is using a startup's artificial intelligence technology to remotely scout prospective players during the coronavirus restrictions.
From ACM TechNews
These Fold-Up Robots Fly Just Like Ladybugs
Researchers in South Korea have built remote-controlled robots inspired by ladybugs, with wings that snap open, lock, and fold up like origami upon landing.
From ACM News
The Algorithms of August
The AI arms race won't be like previous competitions, and both the U.S. and China could be left in the dust.