Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2018
From ACM News
'The Beginning of a Wave': A.I. Tiptoes Into the Workplace
The technology is still in its infancy, but it will get better, learning as it goes.
From ACM News
Yuval Noah Harari: 'The Idea of Free Information is Extremely Dangerous'
As his new book is published, the bestselling author talks fake news, meditation and appearing with Natalie Portman.
From ACM News
Decentralizing the Web: Maintaining the Momentum
The Internet Archive's Wendy Hanamura on progress towards a decentralized web.
From ACM News
The Fading Ghost of a Long-Dead Star
Thin, red veins of energized gas mark the location of one of the larger supernova remnants in the Milky Way galaxy in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
From ACM News
Entire Yeast Genome Squeezed Into One Lone Chromosome
For millions of years, brewer's yeast and its close relatives have packed their DNA into 16 distinct chromosomes.
From ACM News
China's Prototype of Exascale Supercomputer Passes Tests
The research and development of the prototype of China's new-generation exascale supercomputer Tianhe-3 is complete, the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin announced Thursday.
From ACM TechNews
New Class of Materials Could Make Batteries Charge Faster
Researchers have identified a group of materials that could be used to make higher-powered batteries.
From ACM TechNews
New Technology Gives Clinicians Inside View of Patients' Joints in Motion
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada have created technology that is helping physicians see how patients' joints function when in motion.
From ACM TechNews
Research Robots Sometimes Left nsecured on the Internet, Study Finds
Brown University researchers have identified exposed systems running the Robot Operating System, with as many as 19 considered to be fully operational robots.
From ACM TechNews
AI, Quantum, Space Commercialization Among White House R&D Priorities
Artificial intelligence and quantum computing are among the research and development priorities for the White House for fiscal year 2020.
From ACM TechNews
Fields Medals Awarded to 4 Mathematicians
Four mathematicians have been named to receive the Fields Medal, regarded as one of the highest honors a mathematician can receive.
From ACM News
A Poet of Computation Who ncovers Distant Truths
The theoretical computer scientist Constantinos Daskalakis has won the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize for explicating core questions in game theory and machine learning.
From ACM News
How Cryptojacking Can Corrupt the Internet of Things
Cyber criminals shut down parts of the Web in October 2016 by attacking the computers that serve as the internet's switchboard.
From ACM News
Google, Seeking a Return to China, Is Said to Be Building a Censored Search Engine
Google withdrew from China eight years ago to protest the country's censorship and online hacking.
From ACM News
SETI Researchers Want to End the Alien-Detection Hype
Researchers looking for signals from technologically advanced aliens pick up countless strange pings—but so far, nothing has convinced them that a message really came from aliens.
From ACM TechNews
Skoltech Scientists se Computer Vision and Machine Learning to Predict Plant Growth
Researchers have developed a method for predicting the growth of biomass of a plant, which they say will improve the efficiency of precision farming.
From ACM TechNews
AI-Equipped Robots Develop Situational Awareness in Earth's Most ncertain Environment
Researchers have created algorithms to teach robots to adapt to changing conditions related to protecting and preserving underwater infrastructure.
From ACM TechNews
Open Source Software Creates Powerful, Accurate Simulations for Movement Research
Researchers have expanded and enhanced an open source movement simulator that addresses problems in medicine, paleontology, and animal locomotion.
From ACM TechNews
Doctors Rely on More Than Just Data for Medical Decision Making
An analysis found doctors' "gut feelings" about an intensive-care patient's condition played a significant role in determining how many tests were ordered for the patient.
From ACM News
niversities FLIP For Diversity
Cornell University's computer science department is leveraging ideas from other departments in pursuit of more diverse academic candidates.
From ACM News
An AI-Driven Robot Hand Spent a Hundred Years Teaching Itself to Rotate a Cube
AI researchers have demonstrated a self-teaching algorithm that gives a robot hand remarkable new dexterity.
From ACM News
Blockchain, Once Seen as a Corporate Cure-All, Suffers Slowdown
Corporate America's love affair with all things blockchain may be cooling.
From ACM News
Facebook Identifies an Active Political Influence Campaign sing Fake Accounts
Facebook said on Tuesday that it had identified a political influence campaign that was potentially built to disrupt the midterm elections, with the company detecting and removing 32 pages and fake accounts that had engaged in…
From ACM News
What Happened to General Magic?
Inside the company that invented the iPhone — two decades too early.
From ACM TechNews
The Ethics of Computer Science: This Researcher Has a Controversial Proposal
Brent Hecht, chair of ACM's Future of Computing Academy, proposes revising the peer review process to ensure scientists report negative societal consequences of their published work.
From ACM TechNews
Same Web-Based Vulnerabilities Still Prevalent After Nine Years
The threat of common Web-based vulnerabilities has not been significantly mitigated over the past nine years, according to a study by the U.K.-based NCC Group.
From ACM TechNews
Reprogrammable Braille
Researchers have developed a framework to encode memory—in the form of Braille-like dimples and bumps—onto a blank, lattice-free material.
From ACM TechNews
Tennessee Approves First-Ever Computer Science Standards for K-8 Schools
The Tennessee Board of Education has given final approval to the state's first computer science standards for elementary and middle schools.
From ACM TechNews
Beyond Silicon: $1.5-billion .S. Program Aims to Spur New Types of Computer Chips
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced $75 million in new grants to revitalize the computer chip industry.
From ACM TechNews
Amazon Face Recognition Falsely Matches 28 Lawmakers With Mugshots, ACL Says
A test of Amazon's facial recognition software incorrectly matched the faces of 28 U.S. legislators to images in a mugshot database.