Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2018
From ACM TechNews
Strain Improves Performance of Atomically Thin Semiconductor Material
Researchers significantly enhanced the performance of an atomically thin semiconductor material by stretching it.
From ACM TechNews
How Can We Be Sure AI Will Behave? Perhaps by Watching It Argue With Itself
Researchers say having two artificial intelligence systems debate a particular goal could ensure that they behave reliably when executing complex functions.
From ACM Careers
Inside Google, a Debate Rages: Should It Sell Artificial Intelligence to the Military?
Last July, 13 U.S. military commanders and technology executives met at the Pentagon's Silicon Valley outpost, two miles from Google headquarters.
From ACM News
A New Sense for nderwater Robots
Marrja Kruusmaa and her colleagues in Estonia have developed a way for underwater robots to better understand their environment.
From ACM News
Mars Helicopter to Fly on NASA's Next Red Planet Rover Mission
NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars.
From ACM News
Fundamental Equations Guide Marine Robots to Optimal Sampling Sites
Observing the world's oceans is increasingly a mission assigned to autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)—marine robots that are designed to drift, drive, or glide through the ocean without any real-time input from human operators…
From ACM TechNews
Italian Researchers Develop Lighter, Cheaper Robotic Hand
The Hennes robotic hand streamlines the mechanical design of other myoelectric prosthetics, using sensors that respond to the brain's electrical stimuli to the muscles.
From ACM TechNews
Google DeepMind's AI Learns Human Navigation Skills
Google's DeepMind unit has developed an algorithm that outperforms people in solving a virtual maze.
From ACM TechNews
W&M Computing Mentorship for Girls Receives ACM National Service Award
The College of William & Mary's Society of Women in Computing has been named to receive the ACM Outstanding Community Service Award.
From ACM TechNews
Software Transforms Complex Data Into Visualizable Shapes
The HyperTools open source software package leverages mathematical techniques to understand high-dimensional datasets via the underlying geometric structures they reflect.
From ACM TechNews
Monkey Face Recognition App Can Help Spot Endangered Primates
Researchers at Michigan State University have developed a mobile application that can identify and track primates in the wild from facial photos.
From ACM TechNews
Facebook Helped Create an AI Scavenger Hunt That Could Lead to the First seful Home Robots
Researchers have developed a scavenger hunt that could help artificial intelligence programs develop common sense.
From ACM News
House Democrats Release 3,500 Russia-Linked Facebook Ads
On Thursday, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee published more than 3,500 Facebook and Instagram ads linked to the Russian propaganda group Internet Research Agency, making it the largest trove of these ads the public…
From ACM News
Critical PGP and S/MIME Bugs can Reveal Encrypted Emails—ninstall Now
The flaws can expose emails sent in the past and "pose an immediate threat."
From ACM News
Light Could Make Semiconductor Computers a Million Times Faster or Even Go Quantum
From ACM TechNews
Randles Named to Receive 2017 ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award
Duke University professor Amanda Randles has been named the 2017 recipient of the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award.
From ACM TechNews
How the Power of Mathematics Can Help Assess Lung Function
A novel mathematical method to analyze lung scans could transform diagnosis and assessment of respiratory maladies.
From ACM TechNews
How Even One Connected Vehicle Can Improve Safety, Save Energy
Researchers have found that even one automated vehicle using connected cruise control on the road among human-driven cars increases safety and reduces energy use.
From ACM TechNews
Sensor Stickers Transform the Human Body Into a Multi-Touch Surface
A new skin sensor allows interaction designers to produce skin-like, sensitive multi-touch sensors for any part of the body.
From ACM News
Why A.I. and Cryptocurrency Are Making One Type of Computer Chip Scarce
Two technology booms—some people might call them frenzies—are combining to turn a once-obscure type of microprocessor into a must-have but scarce commodity.
From ACM News
Artificial Intelligence Takes Scientists Inside Living Human Cells
A new application of artificial intelligence could help researchers solve medical mysteries ranging from cancer to Alzheimer's.
From ACM News
If Knowledge is Power, then Coders like Fereshteh Forough and Barbara Liskov will Inherit the Earth
Two women helping to lead the tech sector towards greater diversity and inclusion discuss the power of code to advance women from America to Afghanistan.
From ACM News
New Horizons in Thermoelectric Cooling
Solid-state thermal management offers a viable alternative to vapor-compression cooling systems for some applications.
From ACM TechNews
Carnegie Mellon Researchers Just Gave the Humble Piece of Paper a Futuristic Redesign
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have created a device that looks like a normal sheet of paper, but is able to digitally transfer writing to a computer.
From ACM TechNews
Atomically Thin Magnetic Device Could Lead to New Memory Technologies
Researchers from the University of Washington, working with colleagues from four other institutions, encoded information using magnets only a few atomic layers in thickness.
From ACM TechNews
Stanford Researchers Investigate Behavior in Quantum Systems With a Toy-Inspired Technique
Stanford University scientists have created a quantum version of Newton's cradle to study the emergence of quantum chaos and thermal equilibrium.
From ACM TechNews
AI Can Spot Signs of Autism in Babies
Researchers have discovered a way to use artificial intelligence to interpret electroencephalograms to determine the chances of a child having autism spectrum disorder.
From ACM News
A Google Program Can Pass As a Human on the Phone. Should It Be Required to Tell People It's a Machine?
Google's artificial-intelligence assistant sounds almost exactly like a human when it calls the salon to book a woman's hair appointment.
From ACM News
AI Recreates Activity Patterns that Brain Cells se in Navigation
From ACM News
Senate Intel: Russia Waged 'nprecedented' Cyber Campaign on .S. Voting Systems
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the unclassified version of its investigation into Russian cyberattacks on digital U.S. voting systems ahead of the 2016 presidential election.