Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2015
From ACM Opinion
Want Your Writing to Look Like Einstein's? Computers Mimic Handwriting of the Famous
Harald Geisler wants to make you as brilliant as Albert Einstein. Or at least let you write like him. Or at least write in his handwriting.
From ACM News
The Agency
Around 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 11 last year, Duval Arthur, director of the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, got a call from a resident who had just received a disturbing text message…
From ACM TechNews
Gadgets Powered Wirelessly at Home With a Simple Wi-Fi Router
A multi-university team of researchers has developed a system that can power electrical devices with just a wireless router's signal.
From ACM News
Medical Microbots Take a Fantastic Voyage Into Reality
In the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, scientists at a U.S. laboratory shrink a submarine called Proteus and its human crew to microscopic size and then inject the vessel into an ailing scientist.
From ACM News
Nasa Instrument on Rosetta Makes Comet Atmosphere Discovery
Data collected by NASA's Alice instrument aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft reveal that electrons close to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko—not photons from the sun, as had been believed—cause…
From ACM News
Getting 'physical' and Emotional in Virtual Reality
If you think about virtual reality, you probably think of it as the place where gamers don an Oculus headset and go shoot up enemies in 3D or travel space.
From ACM News
Supreme Court Overturns Conviction in Online Threats Case, Citing Intent
The Supreme Court on Monday made it harder to prosecute people for threats made on Facebook and other social media, reversing the conviction of a Pennsylvania man who directed brutally violent language against his estranged wife…
From ACM TechNews
New Sensing Technology Could Improve Our Ability to Detect Diseases, Fraudulent Art, Chemical Weapons and More
An international team of researchers have developed a nanotechnology that promises to make surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy simpler and cheaper.
From ACM TechNews
Entangled Photons nlock New Super-Sensitive Characterization of Quantum Technology
A newly demonstrated protocol for estimating unknown optical processes, called unitary operations, features precision enhanced by quantum mechanics.
From ACM TechNews
One Step Closer to a Single-Molecule Device
Researchers have designed a new technique to create a single-molecule diode that can perform 50 times better than prior designs.
From ACM News
Deep Learning Catches On in New Industries, from Fashion to Finance
A machine-learning technique that has already given computers an eerie ability to recognize speech and categorize images is now creeping into industries ranging from computer security to stock trading.
From ACM TechNews
Solid-State Photonics Goes Extreme ltraviolet
Researchers have demonstrated the emission of extreme ultraviolet radiation from thin dielectric films using ultrashort laser pulses.
From ACM News
Cassini Prepares For Last p-Close Look at Hyperion
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make its final close approach to Saturn's large, irregularly shaped moon Hyperion on Sunday, May 31.
From ACM News
How Companies Turn Your Facebook Activity Into a Credit Score
Nicole Keplinger, 22, had long seen ads on Facebook promising financial relief, but she always ignored them and assumed that they were scams.
From ACM TechNews
An Algorithm That Can Help Robots Walk Off Injuries
University of Wyoming and Pierre and Marie Curie University researchers are developing robots that find ways to adapt and keep moving after an injury.
From ACM TechNews
A Chip Placed nder the Skin For More Precise Medicine
A new biosensor chip can simultaneously monitor the concentration of a number of molecules and certain drugs in a person.
From ACM TechNews
A New Kind of Wood Chip: Collaboration Could Lead to Biodegradable Computer Chips
Researchers have developed a semiconductor chip made almost entirely of wood.
From ACM TechNews
Dali: Robot Walker For Elderly People in Public Spaces
To help elderly people navigate busy public places, an European Union research project has developed a robotic cognitive walker.
From ACM News
Mystery of Black Hole Fireworks Solved
Gigantic jets of gas that leap out of galaxies at nearly the speed of light occur only after two galaxies merge, a survey of the distant Universe shows.
From ACM News
The Long Life of a Quick 'fix'
By the time a pair of engineers sat down for lunch together in Austin, the Internet's growing pains had become dire.
From ACM News
A Flaw in the Design
The Internet’s founders saw its promise but didn’t foresee users attacking one another.
From ACM TechNews
Engineering Phase Changes in Nanoparticle Arrays
Scientists are developing dynamic nanomaterials whose structure and associated properties can be switched on demand.
From Communications of the ACM
Klaus Tschira: 1940-2015
Klaus Tschira, the entrepreneur, software pioneer, and patron and supporter of scientific research who died unexpectedly on March 31st, 2015, made numerous lasting contributions to the scientific community.
From Communications of the ACM
Plenty of Proteins
The growth of structural biology brings new challenges for the world's protein data archive.
From Communications of the ACM
Forging Relationships
Michael Stonebraker didn't realize at the outset that it would take six years to create INGRES, one of the world's first relational databases.
From Communications of the ACM
Estonia: A Model For E-Government
Over the next decade, the population of Estonia is expected to soar more than 600% as the country becomes the first in the world to open its borders to an influx of e-residents.
From Communications of the ACM
Between the Lines
Smartphone apps are driving changes in the way people park. Sensors, crowdsourcing, and big data are making it easier to find open parking spots.