Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2014
From ACM News
How Technology Is Unraveling the Clues of Flight Mh17
Over the weekend, the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 tragedy turned into a "Law and Order" episode on the international stage with Secretary of State John Kerry appearing on Fox News and other outlets to make a systemic case against…
From ACM TechNews
The Growing Threat of Network-Based Steganography
Researchers have uncovered Duqu, an unusual form of steganography-based malware that embeds itself in Microsoft Windows machines.
From ACM TechNews
Future Electronics May Depend on Lasers, Not Quartz
A new method of stabilizing microwave signals in the gigahertz range uses a pair of laser beams as the reference instead of a crystal.
From ACM TechNews
Hearts Stars Trial Software That Predicts Injuries
New software could be used to determine when athletes are at risk to suffer an injury.
From ACM News
Talk on Cracking Internet Anonymity Service Tor Canceled
A highly anticipated talk on how to identify users of the Internet privacy service Tor was withdrawn from the upcoming Black Hat security conference, a spokeswoman for the event said on Monday.
From ACM News
In Defense of Science
Steady, sufficient investments in basic research are necessary to ensure the continued success of the U.S. in the future, four expert witnesses testified to Congress.
From ACM News
New Dimension in Scoreboard Watching
The seemingly endless prairie that blankets this part of the United States would seem to be an unlikely place for one of the largest makers of sports video displays, Daktronics.
From ACM News
Will Science Burst the Multiverse's Bubble?
This philosophical question overlaps with real physics when hypothesizing what lies beyond the boundary of our observable universe.
From ACM News
How Can a Civilian Plane Accidentally Be Shot Down?
Pro-Russian separatists may have shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine on Thursday because they mistook the civilian plane for something else.
From ACM News
Iran's Liberals and Conservatives Argue Over Internet Restrictions
When Iran's authorities started to block websites such as YouTube and Wikipedia in 2006, only a tenth of the population used the Internet.
From ACM News
Oco-2 Data to Lead Scientists Forward Into the Past
NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, which launched on July 2, will soon be providing about 100,000 high-quality measurements each day of carbon dioxide concentrations from around the globe.
From ACM TechNews
Travis County Developing Electronic Voting System With a Paper Trail
An electronic-voting system that prints out a paper copy of the ballot and a take-home receipt is under development and could be in operation within three years.
From ACM TechNews
People in Leadership Positions May Sacrifice Privacy For Security
Researchers are examining how people with high-status job assignments assess security and privacy, and how impulsive or patient they are in making decisions.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Finger Takes Scientists Through 3D Landscapes
Scientists will be able to use software called the Virtual Finger to navigate three-dimensional images of biological structures on computer screens.
From ACM TechNews
For Tv 'white Spaces,' the Global Outlook Is Hopeful but Cautious
Developed and developing markets' spectrum policies are starting to accommodate TV white spaces.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Track Quantum Errors in Real Time: Step Toward Age of Quantum Computing
Researchers have brought functional quantum computing another step forward by developing a method for real-time tracking of quantum errors.
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputers Reveal Strange, Stress-Induced Transformations in World's Thinnest Materials
Researchers used Brookhaven National Laboratory supercomputers to compare the transformations and breaking points of graphene and other monolayers.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Develop a Wikipedia of Fact-Checking During Natural Disasters
Researchers have developed an online platform for crowd-sourcing the veracity of information posted to social media.
From ACM News
In Gaza, Epithets Are Fired and Euphemisms Give Shelter
The Gaza-based interior ministry advises its supporters in a YouTube video that whenever talking about the dead, "always add 'an innocent citizen.' "
From ACM News
Neuroscience: 'i Can Read Your Mind'
Jack Gallant can read your mind. Or at least, he can figure out what you're seeing if you're in his machine watching a movie he's playing for you.
From ACM TechNews
Math Can Make the Internet 5-10 Times Faster
Researchers say they have developed software that can make Internet communications via computer, mobile phone, or satellite significantly faster and more secure.
From ACM TechNews
MIT Scientists Develop Sensor-Operated Robotic Fingers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a robotic extension to the human hand that could make common, everyday tasks easier.
From ACM TechNews
Some niversities Crack Code in Drawing Women to Computer Science
Just 18 percent of the computer science graduates from colleges and universities across the U.S. are women, down from 37 percent in 1985, but some schools are reporting much higher percentages.
From ACM News
Fiendish Wheat Genome Reveals Grain's History
A draft genome sequence of wheat promises to speed efforts to breed new types of one of the world's most important crops — and to reveal the tangled genomic history of an ancient staple.
From ACM TechNews
Electric Vehicles Drive Iot Research at Four Universities
Internet2 announced that it will provide four U.S. universities with an all-electric micro vehicle which will be used in a variety of research projects in Internet and network connectivity and help reduce a university's carbon…
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Urges People to Use Weak Passwords Online
Microsoft and Carleton University researchers suggest in a new report that Internet users do not need to use complex passwords for all of their online accounts, contradicting established best practices for password security.
From ACM News
Air Force Research: How to se Social Media to Control People Like Drones
Facebook isn't the only organization conducting research into how attitudes are affected by social media.
From ACM News
As China Stalks Satellites, .S. and Japan Prepare to Defend Them
In May 2013 the Chinese government conducted what it called a science space mission from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.
From ACM News
Mars Rover Facing Harshest Journey Yet
After making it across 8.5 kilometres on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover is now facing some of the most dangerous terrain it has ever encountered.
From ACM TechNews
Nsa Recruits College Students For Cyber-Operations Program
The U.S. National Security Agency has selected five more schools for its Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations Program.