Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2017
From ACM News
New Movie Shows Cassini's First Dive Over Saturn
A new movie sequence of images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the view as the spacecraft swooped over Saturn during the first of its Grand Finale dives between the planet and its rings on April 26.
From ACM News
Sent to Prison By a Software Program's Secret Algorithms
When Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. visited Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last month, he was asked a startling question, one with overtones of science fiction.
From ACM News
Watch Hackers Sabotage an Industrial Robot Arm
When the cybersecurity industry warns of digital threats to the "internet of things," the targets that come to mind are ill-conceived, insecure consumer products like hackable lightbulbs and refrigerators.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Scientists Have Created the Most Accurate Digital Model of a Human Face
Imperial College London researchers have automated the generation of three-dimensional morphable models used to represent human faces.
From ACM TechNews
In Europe's Election Season, Tech Vies to Fight Fake News
Scientists are attempting to counter a rash of fake news spreading online as European elections loom.
From ACM TechNews
Study Finds Gender Bias in Open Source Programming
Women's contributions in open source software communities tend to be accepted more often than men's in general, but they are rejected more frequently when a woman's gender is identifiable.
From ACM TechNews
Your Smartphone Can Tell If You've Had a Good Night's Sleep
A new tool uses machine learning to model personal sleep patterns based on sounds made during sleep.
From ACM TechNews
Stanford Researchers Develop New Wave of Electronics
Engineers at Stanford University say they have developed a flexible, organic, biodegradable electronic device.
From ACM TechNews
Berkeley Students Create Wheelchair Add-On to Help Blind Users Navigate
A new low-cost, modular, customizable add-on system for wheelchairs employs sensors and software to make navigation easier for visually-impaired users.
From ACM News
The AI Revolution Is Making Game Characters Move More Realistically
When we talk about artificial intelligence in games, we usually picture smarter or more realistic enemies that don't come off as mindless automatons.
From ACM News
An Ostrich-Like Robot Pushes the Limits of Legged Locomotion
What looks like a tiny mechanical ostrich chasing after a car is actually a significant leap forward for robot-kind.
From ACM News
Hubert L. Dreyfus, Philosopher of the Limits of Computers, Dies at 87
A philosopher who believed humans will always be smarter.
From ACM TechNews
Can Social Networks Help You Get Into Shape?
Researchers at the University of Southern California are studying whether social networks can help make people healthier.
From ACM TechNews
Disney Projection System Shines Makeup on Actors During Live Performances
The Makeup Lamps system tracks an actor's movements and expressions during live stage performances so the actor's face can be painted with light.
From ACM TechNews
Hybrid Digital-Analog Circuits Can Increase Computational Power of Chaos-Based Systems
Combining digital and analog elements in nonlinear, chaos-based integrated circuits boosts their computational power by enabling a larger number of inputs to be processed.
From ACM News
Beyond Moore's Law
Chipmakers are exploring what comes after they reach the predicted limits of integrated circuit density, complexity.
From ACM News
How a Cyber Attack Transformed Estonia
Cyber-attacks, information warfare, fake news—exactly 10 years ago Estonia was one of the first countries to come under attack from this modern form of hybrid warfare.
From ACM Careers
Meet the People Who Train the Robots (to Do Their Own Jobs)
What if part of your job became teaching a computer everything you know about doing someone's job—perhaps your own?
From ACM TechNews
Mapping the Edge of Reality
Researchers have developed a genetic algorithm to confirm the rejection of classical ideas of causality.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Examining How State-of-the-Art Camera That Mimics Human Eye Could Benefit Robots and Smart Devices
Researchers are developing a camera-based artificial vision system for robots and smart devices that simulates the human eye.
From ACM TechNews
This Robot Knows When It's Confused and Asks For Help
Brown University researchers have developed a robot that measures its own confusion and then asks for help if it thinks it is required.
From ACM TechNews
New Shark Spotter Algorithm Lets Surfers Take to the Break With Confidence
Shark Spotter is an algorithm that uses video footage streamed from drones to detect sharks and alert swimmers.
From ACM TechNews
A Trick That Hides Censored Websites Inside Cat Videos
Slitheen is a new system that uses decoy routing to conceal banned websites inside of innocuous cat videos.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Geeks Develop Algorithm to Detect Defects in Fruits and Grade Them Automatically
A new image-processing technique automatically checks the quality of fruits based on their color and texture.
From ACM News
French Election Is Facebook's Fake News Litmus Test
In the run-up to the first round of the French presidential election, the country's social media was awash in press reports of dubious origin.
From ACM News
Alan Cooper Named 2017 Chm Fellow
Software designer and programmer Alan Cooper was named a 2017 Fellow of the Computer History Museum for "his invention of the visual development environment in Visual BASIC, and for his pioneering work in establishing the field…
From ACM News
Margaret Hamilton Named 2017 Chm Fellow
Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton has been named a 2017 Fellow of the Computer History Museum.
From Communications of the ACM
Combating Cancer With Data
Supercomputers will sift massive amounts of data in search of therapies that work.
From Communications of the ACM
Bionics in Competition
Developers of innovative assistive devices compete as a means of networking with each other.
From Communications of the ACM
The Internet of Things
2009 ACM Prize recipient Eric Brewer, 2004 ACM A.M. Turing Award co-recipient Vint Cerf, 2016–2017 Athena Lecturer Jennifer Rexford, ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award recipient Martin Casado, ACM Fellows Nick Feamster and Jim Kurose…