Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2016
From ACM Careers
Google Sprints Ahead in AI Building Blocks, Leaving Rivals Wary
There's a high-stakes race under way in Silicon Valley to develop software that makes it easy to weave artificial intelligence technology into almost everything, and Google has sprinted into the lead.
From ACM News
Minecraft Is a Testing Ground For Human-AI Collaboration
The blockish and slightly dorky computer game Minecraft may turn out to be a great place for humans and AI to learn how to work together.
From ACM News
Programming Life
With a new programming language, almost anyone create a DNA-encoded circuit.
From ACM News
How Mountains Obscured By Venus's Clouds Reveal Themselves
Colossal clouds cloak the surface of Venus, making it difficult for researchers to probe its secrets.
From ACM News
Human Brain Mapped in nprecedented Detail
Think of a spinning globe and the patchwork of countries it depicts: such maps help us to understand where we are, and that nations differ from one another.
From ACM News
Nasa's Kepler Confirms 100+ Exoplanets During Its K2 Mission
An international team of astronomers has discovered and confirmed a treasure trove of new worlds using NASA's Kepler spacecraft on its K2 mission.
From ACM TechNews
Eu Data Protection Law May End the nknowable Algorithm
A new law to be enacted European Union-wide in 2018 could require companies to clarify their decision-making algorithms to avoid unlawful discrimination.
From ACM TechNews
Tougher Turing Test Exposes Chatbots' Stupidity
The results of the Winograd Schema Challenge revealed much more work needs to be done to make computers truly intelligent.
From ACM TechNews
To Catch a Wireless Thief
Crowdsourcing programs one day could help authorities track down unauthorized radio bandwidth and malicious radio disruptions.
From ACM TechNews
Organic Computers Are Coming
Researchers have discovered a molecule which, they say, could stimulate the development of organic electronics.
From ACM TechNews
More Female International Students Pursue STEM Degrees at .s. niversities
More female international students are attending U.S. universities to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math degrees.
From ACM News
Will Ecole 42 Crack the Code of Learning?
A French institution may be a window into the future of coding education.
From ACM News
Learning to Trust a Self-Driving Car
On a clear morning in early May, Brian Lathrop, a senior engineer for Volkswagen's Electronics Research Laboratory, was in the driver's seat of a Tesla Model S as it travelled along a stretch of road near Blacksburg, Virginia…
From ACM News
Having Stomach Troubles? Try Swallowing an Origami Robot
Has your child swallowed a small battery? In the future, a tiny robot made from pig gut could capture it and expel it.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Build a Crawling Robot From Sea Slug Parts and a 3D Printed Body
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have built "biohybrid" robots that crawl like sea turtles on the beach.
From ACM TechNews
Inside Facebook's Artificial Intelligence Engine Room
A complex in Prineville, OR, that houses Facebook servers recently was expanded with high-powered servers designed to accelerate research into machine learning.
From ACM TechNews
ser-Controlled System Makes It Possible to Instantly Revoke Access to Files Hosted on Internet Cloud Servers
Access to cloud-hosted data can be controlled in real time by securing data files with a proxy key.
From ACM News
The Secret History of X-Ray Specs
"I have seen my death!" Anna Bertha Röntgen is said to have exclaimed upon seeing the first X-ray photograph ever made–an image of the bones in her hand. It was her husband, German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, who discovered X-rays…
From ACM News
Atom Wranglers Create Rewritable Memory
Engineers can only stuff so much computing power into devices like smartphones and tablets before they run up against physical barriers.
From ACM News
NASA's Next Mars Rover Progresses Toward 2020 Launch
After an extensive review process and passing a major development milestone, NASA is ready to proceed with final design and construction of its next Mars rover, currently targeted to launch in summer of 2020 and arrive on the…
From ACM TechNews
Can We Protect Against Computers Being Fingerprinted?
University of Adelaide researchers are working to find new methods of protecting against the fingerprinting of personal computers.
From ACM TechNews
Hololens Augmented Reality to Foil Hack Attacks in Factories
An augmented reality "IT help desk" could allow factories to identify and mitigate cyberattacks on industrial control systems.
From ACM TechNews
Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels
Artificial intelligence and robotics are leading a transformation in Silicon Valley expected to be as significant as the personal computing and commercial Internet eras.
From ACM TechNews
Breakthrough in Powering Wireless Sensors
Researchers are making progress toward harvesting ambient energy from mobile phone base stations to power wireless sensors used in a range of industries.
From ACM TechNews
Nyu Researchers Report Cybersecurity Risks in 3D Printing
Additive manufacturing, also known as three-dimensional printing, faces some of the same cybersecurity risks as the electronics industry.
From ACM TechNews
.s. Pumps $400 Million Into Next-Generation Wireless Research
The U.S. National Science Foundation will invest more than $400 million over the next seven years to fund next-generation wireless research.
From ACM Opinion
This Guy Trains Computers to Find Future Criminals
When historians look back at the turmoil over prejudice and policing in the U.S. over the past few years, they're unlikely to dwell on the case of Eric Loomis.
From ACM News
What We've Learned About Pluto
In the year since NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto, the dwarf planet has maintained its icy heart.
From ACM News
Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win
Microsoft pulled the strings. At least, that’s what Google and so many business and tech journalists said when the search giant first faced antitrust complaints in Europe six years ago.
From ACM News
In Wake of Shootings, Facebook Struggles to Define Hate Speech
In the wake of last week's shootings, Facebook has seen a significant spike in flagged content, with users calling out each other's posts as racist, violent and offensive.