Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2017
From ACM TechNews
Reshaping Computer-Aided Design
Researchers have developed InstantCAD to facilitate interactive real-time editing, enhancement, and optimization of computer-aided design models via a simpler workflow.
From ACM TechNews
New Camera Designed By Stanford Researchers Could Improve Robot Vision and Virtual Reality
A new four-dimensional camera captures almost 140 degrees of information, with implications for robot visual perception and virtual reality.
From ACM TechNews
Neural Nets Model Audience Reactions to Movies
Disney researchers applied deep-learning neural networks to develop a new way of evaluating movie audiences' reactions using facial expressions.
From ACM News
The Rise of AI Is Forcing Google and Microsoft to Become Chipmakers
By now our future is clear: We are to be cared for, entertained, and monetized by artificial intelligence.
From ACM News
Saturn Surprises As Cassini Continues its Grand Finale
As NASA's Cassini spacecraft makes its unprecedented series of weekly dives between Saturn and its rings, scientists are finding—so far—that the planet's magnetic field has no discernible tilt.
From ACM News
Level p: How Video Games Evolved to Solve Significant Scientific Problems
In the early 1950s, just as rock 'n' roll was hinting at social change, the first video games were quietly being designed in the form of technology demonstrations—and a scientist was behind it.
From ACM News
Concerned About Connected Car Privacy? Bluetooth Sensors Used to Track Traffic
One big promise of the connected car revolution has been the potential to help clear up traffic problems.
From ACM TechNews
Iarpa Announces Map of the World Challenge For Satellite Imagery
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity has launched the functional Map of the World Challenge.
From ACM TechNews
Holograms Taken to New Dimension
Researchers say they have developed a method to create inexpensive full-color two- and three-dimensional holograms.
From ACM TechNews
Bikes May Have to Talk to Self-Driving Cars For Safety's Sake
Researchers envision bicycles communicating with autonomous vehicles so the latter can predict cyclists' movements.
From ACM TechNews
DARPA Calls For Post-Moore Ideas
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Electronics Resurgence Initiative aims to cultivate partnerships and advance progress of post-Moore's Law technologies.
From ACM TechNews
Who Will Control the Swarm?
Researchers at Stanford University believe future device swarms will operate via centralized management.
From ACM TechNews
Opening the Lid on Criminal Sentencing Software
Researchers are using machine learning to train computers to build statistical models that can predict future criminal behavior.
From ACM News
The Emerging Science of Computational Psychiatry
Machine learning, data mining, and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing the study and understanding of mental illness.
From ACM Careers
Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover
In 2015, Monocle magazine, a favorite read of the global hipsterati, published an enthusiastic report on Lawrenceville, the former blue-collar neighborhood here filled with cafes, hyped restaurants and brick rowhouses being renovated…
From ACM News
How Checkers Was Solved
The story of a duel between two men, one who dies, and the nature of the quest to build artificial intelligence.
From ACM News
From Mars Rover: Panorama Above 'perseverance Valley'
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded a panoramic view before entering the upper end of a fluid-carved valley that descends the inner slope of a large crater's rim.
From ACM News
We Could Build a Galactic Internet but It May Take 300,000 Years
If there are advanced alien civilizations in the Milky Way, we ought to be thinking about how to say hello to our neighbours.
From ACM News
China's Got a Huge Artificial Intelligence Plan
China aims to make the artificial intelligence industry a "new, important" driver of economic expansion by 2020, according to a development plan issued by the State Council.
From ACM TechNews
Mind-Reading Computer Moves Closer to Reality
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a mind-reading program that deciphers symbols that people have viewed.
From ACM TechNews
Robot Physical Therapist Helps People Walk Again After a Stroke
A new smart harness uses artificial intelligence to help people regain their mobility following certain neurological injuries.
From ACM TechNews
Deer Caught in the Headlights? Your Car May Soon See Them
Automakers are working to develop systems that would enable self-driving cars to avoid hitting large animals such as deer.
From ACM TechNews
MIT Research Could Make Neural Networks Portable
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers are developing a neural network designed specifically to work on mobile devices.
From ACM Opinion
Deepmind's Founder Says to Build Better Computer Brains, We Need to Look at Our Own
After decades in the wilderness, AI has swaggered back onto center stage.
From ACM News
Beijing Wants AI to Be Made in China By 2030
The country laid out a development plan on Thursday to become the world leader in A.I. by 2030.
From ACM TechNews
New Algorithm, Metrics Improve Autonomous nderwater Vehicles' Energy Efficiency
Researchers have built a framework for autonomous underwater vehicles that enables the machines to plan energy-efficient trajectories.
From ACM TechNews
Titan Simulations Show Importance of Close Two-Way Coupling Between Human and Earth Systems
Researchers have used supercomputers to integrate massive codes that combine physical and biological processes in the Earth system with feedback from human activity.
From ACM TechNews
Hybrid Approach Optimizes Grid
Researchers at Lehigh University's Optimization and Machine Learning research group and IBM Research have made progress in solving optimal smart grid power flow problems.
From ACM TechNews
Artificial Intelligence Helps Scientists Map Behavior in the Fruit Fly Brain
Scientists have used artificial intelligence technology to make 100 billion annotations of behavior from 400,000 fruit flies.
From ACM News
Nasa Catches Glimpse of Ancient and Elusive Object
NASA just caught a glimpse of the mysterious and elusive object that its New Horizons spacecraft will visit next.