Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2016
From ACM TechNews
Research Proves the Improbable Can Be Made Possible
Texas A&M University professor Daniel Jimenez has revolutionized the way research is conducted on microprocessors.
From ACM News
Google Tackles Challenge of How to Build an Honest Robot
Google can see a future where robots help us unload the dishwasher and sweep the floor. The challenge is making sure they don’t inadvertently knock over a vase—or worse—while doing so.
From ACM Opinion
Here's Your Chance to Decode President Lincoln's Secret Messages
On April 12, 1865—three days after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox and two days before President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated—the president sent a telegram to Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, whose Union forces were…
From ACM News
Nasa's K2 Finds Newborn Exoplanet Around Young Star
Astronomers have discovered the youngest fully formed exoplanet ever detected.
From ACM News
You Can Run, but You Cannot Hide
Computerized methods turn up evidence of cheating in marathons.
From ACM News
When Will Computers Have Common Sense? Ask Facebook
Facebook is well known for its early and increasing use of artificial intelligence.
From ACM TechNews
AI Just Got a Big Boost in Its Ability to nderstand the News
Stanford University researchers say they have developed an algorithm that outperforms Google's DeepMind in reading and understanding written content.
From ACM TechNews
Disposable Robots Can Sprint, Fly, and Potentially Save Lives
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley are developing inexpensive mini-robots that can run, climb, fly, and communicate with emergency personnel.
From ACM TechNews
Malware, Data Theft, and Scams: Researchers Expose Risks of Free Livestreaming Websites
Researchers found free livestreaming services users often are exposed to malware infections, personal data theft, and scams.
From ACM News
First Human Test of CRISPR Proposed
A federal safety board next week will consider the first human use of the gene-editing technology CRISPR, according to the National Institutes of Health.
From ACM News
The Inventors of the Internet Are Trying to Build a Truly Permanent Web
Today, much of the responsibility for preserving the web’s history rests on The Internet Archive.
From ACM Careers
Keyboard Warriors: South Korea Trains New Frontline in Decades-Old War with North
In one college major at Seoul's elite Korea University, the courses are known only by number, and students keep their identities a secret from outsiders.
From ACM TechNews
Black Churches Put Faith in Coding Classes
Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition is working with African-American churches and the FAITHTECH Labs initiative to provide coding classes for children.
From ACM TechNews
Too Cute For Their Own Good, Robots Get Self-Defense Instincts
Robot designers are developing robots that appear non-threatening, but can take action when humans attracted to their cuteness interfere with performance of their functions.
From ACM TechNews
China Tops List of Fastest Computers Again
For the seventh straight time, China has dominated the Top500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers.
From ACM TechNews
Speaking in Song
Researchers have developed voice synthesis software they say can make anyone's singing voice sound more melodious.
From ACM TechNews
Software nveiled to Tackle Online Extremism, Violence
The Counter Extremism Project has unveiled a software tool to help social media firms find and delete radical content.
From ACM News
Smile, You're in the Fbi Face-Recognition Database
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has access to as many as 411.9 million images as part of its face-recognition database.
From ACM News
Kanade Wins 2016 Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology
Major award cites scientific contributions that better humankind.
From ACM News
Ligo Detects Whispers of Another Black-Hole Merger
Just before 4 a.m. on 26 December, B. S. Sathyaprakash woke up to some good news: gravitational waves had been detected for only the second time in history.
From ACM News
Nasa's Juno Spacecraft to Risk Jupiter's Fireworks For Science
On July 4, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles (4,667 kilometers) of the cloud tops of our solar system's largest planet.
From ACM TechNews
Hpe Shows Off a Computer Intended to Emulate the Human Brain
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is showing off a prototype computer designed to imitate the parallelism of the human brain using circuit boards and memory chips.
From ACM TechNews
Creating Printable, Programmable Machines
Daniela Rus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is pioneering the science of printable, foldable, and do-it-yourself robotics.
From ACM TechNews
China Claims Exascale By 2020, Three Years Before .s.
China wants to deliver an exascale computing system by 2020, three years ahead of the U.S. plan to achieve the same goal.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Culture Still Pushing Out Women, Study Finds
Social dynamics and "culture fit" are a key reason why female engineers tend to leave the profession sooner than men, according to a new study.
From ACM TechNews
Fighting Virtual Reality Sickness
Virtual reality sickness associated with consumer VR headsets can be alleviated with subtle changes to the user's field of view, say researchers from Columbia University.
From ACM News
Fighting Isis With an Algorithm, Physicists Try to Predict Attacks
After Orlando and San Bernardino and Paris, there is new urgency to understand the signs that can precede acts of terrorism.
From ACM News
Barbara Liskov, Weizmann Women and Science Award
"I didn’t even know computers existed."
From ACM News
What a Amell Looks Like
Boulder smells of peppermint … and crisp snow.
From ACM News
Rover Opportunity Wrapping p Study of Martian Valley
"Marathon Valley," slicing through a large crater's rim on Mars, has provided fruitful research targets for NASA's Opportunity rover since July 2015, but the rover may soon move on.