Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2016
From ACM News
Games that Teach Coding
A growing number of games seek to introduce the concepts of programming to young players.
From ACM News
Nasa Telescopes Find Clues For How Giant Black Holes Formed So Quickly
Using data from NASA's Great Observatories, astronomers have found the best evidence yet for cosmic seeds in the early universe that should grow into supermassive black holes.
From ACM TechNews
This Robot ses Machine Learning to Take Care of Absent-Minded Humans
The Watch-bot robot can independently learn a user's household activity patterns to provide helpful reminders.
From ACM TechNews
Computer App Whets Children's Appetites For Eco-Friendly Meals
An educational software application is being developed to show middle-school students how their dietary choices affect climate change.
From ACM TechNews
Your Friends Have More Friends Than You Do
The Generalized Friendship Paradox stipulates that on average, a person's friends post more material and are more influential on social networks than they are.
From ACM News
China's Scary Lesson to the World: Censoring the Internet Works.
First there was the Berlin Wall. Now there is the Great Firewall of China, not a physical barrier preventing people from leaving, but a virtual one, preventing information harmful to the Communist Party from entering the country…
From ACM News
The Oracle-Google Case Will Decide the Future of Software
The legal battle between Oracle and Google is about to come to an end, and nothing less is as stake than the future of programming.
From ACM News
Physicists Discover a New Form of Light
Physicists from Trinity College Dublin's School of Physics and the CRANN Institute, Trinity College, have discovered a new form of light, which will impact our understanding of the fundamental nature of light.
From ACM News
Giant Tsunamis Washed Over Ancient Mars
Some 3.4 billion years ago, giant meteoroids slammed into a frigid ocean covering Mars's northern hemisphere. The impacts kicked up enormous waves that raced across the water and swamped the shoreline, research suggests.
From ACM TechNews
nveiling the Hidden Layers of Deep Learning
A new method for visualizing the mechanisms and hidden layers of neural networks could provide insights into deep learning.
From ACM TechNews
Big Data, Better Health Care
A team of physicians and computer scientists is using merged electronic health records to improve care and outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease.
From ACM TechNews
Dartmouth Contest Shows Computers Aren't Such Good Poets
In a yearlong Dartmouth College competition, a three-judge panel tried to distinguish between machine- and human-produced sonnets.
From ACM TechNews
How to Create a Malevolent Artificial Intelligence
University of Louisville researchers are studying how malevolent artificial intelligenes might be designed, and the conditions in which they might be create.
From ACM TechNews
Autonomous Mini Rally Car Teaches Itself to Powerslide
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing control algorithms that enable small-scale autonomous cars to race around dirt tracks at high speeds.
From ACM News
Dronebuster Will Let You Point and Shoot Command Hacks at Pesky Drones
Anti-drone technology has been high on the shopping list of public safety and military organizations at least since a drunken federal employee crashed a drone onto the White House lawn.
From ACM Careers
China Quietly Targets .s. Tech Companies in Security Reviews
Chinese authorities are quietly scrutinizing technology products sold in China by Apple and other big foreign companies, focusing on whether they pose potential security threats to the country and its consumers and opening up…
From ACM News
Light-Controlled Genes and Neurons Poised For Clinical Trials
Every time something poked its foot, the mouse jumped in pain.
From ACM TechNews
Scan Your Doodles to Find the Perfect Matching Photo Online
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers say they have developed software that can scan hand-drawn sketches and search for a photograph that looks like them.
From ACM TechNews
Mobile Apps and Games Are Also Energy Thieves
Linkoping University's Ekhiotz Jon Vergara has determined the energy consumption of apps on smartphones depends the amount of data transmitted and how it is sent.
From ACM TechNews
Shape-Shifting Modular Interactive Device nveiled
Cubimorph is a newly developed interactive mobile device that can change shape on demand.
From ACM TechNews
Largest Study of Online Tracking Proves Google Really Is Watching S All
Researchers at Princeton University say they have conducted the largest study yet on the technology that tracks people's movements around the Web.
From ACM TechNews
Silicon Valley's Tech Workforce Diversity Has Long Way to Go, Say Feds
Much progress remains before Silicon Valley's technology industry has a truly diverse workforce, says an analysis by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
From ACM News
How to Create a Malevolent Artificial Intelligence
The possibility that a malevolent artificial intelligence might pose a serious threat to humankind has become a hotly debated issue.
From ACM News
Want to Buy a Self-Driving Car? Big-Rig Trucks May Come First
Imagine you are driving on a highway late at night when a big-rig truck closes in behind you.
From ACM Opinion
How Will Virtual Reality Change Our Lives?
And it's not just gamers who are benefiting from the immersive possibilities it offers.
From ACM News
Soon We Won't Program Computers. We'll Train Them Like Dogs
Before the invention of the computer, most experimental psychologists thought the brain was an unknowable black box.
From ACM TechNews
Robot's In-Hand Eye Maps Surroundings, Determines Hand's Location
Researchers have developed a new technology that includes a camera attached to a robot's hand that can rapidly create a three-dimensional model of its environment.
From ACM TechNews
Abstinence May Not Be the Best Policy For Avoiding Online Risk
A recent study found permitting teenagers to develop their own strategies for coping with risky online situations may be a better strategy than banning Internet use.
From ACM TechNews
Gentle Strength For Robots
Researchers have developed an elastic actuator that is compliant and small enough to be integrated in robots.
From ACM TechNews
Fighting the Zika Virus With the Power of Supercomputing
Rutgers University researchers are taking a lead role in an IBM-sponsored World Community Grid project to identify potential drug candidates to cure the Zika virus.