Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2016
From ACM News
It's Official: You're Lost in a Directionless niverse
Ever peer into the night sky and wonder whether space is really the same in all directions or if the cosmos might be whirling about like a vast top?
From ACM News
We're Ahead of Schedule to Turn 'star Trek' Tech Into Reality
Most Star Trek stories from the vaunted franchise turning 50 this week take place in a distant future we're not likely to see.
From ACM News
Chatbots Take Off
Companies are exploring the use of a "human dialogue interface" to interact with customers and employees more effectively.
From ACM News
Does the Messaging Service Telegram Take Privacy Too Far?
The encryption of digital information is considered the best protection against hackers, snoops or potential enemies looking to poke around into private exchanges of all sorts.
From ACM TechNews
A Proactive Approach to Ensuring Long-Term Cybersecurity
The European Union is funding two projects devoted to developing new cybersecurity paradigms, architectures, and software.
From ACM TechNews
Towards the Workplace of the Future--With Virtual Reality
Business and academic experts this week will present the latest on augmented and virtual reality at the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology conference.
From ACM TechNews
'hello Human, How Are You?' When Robots Observe Their Operators
Researchers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Communication Information Processing and Ergonomics have developed a system in which robots observe humans.
From ACM TechNews
Plastic Crystals Could Improve Fabrication of Memory Devices
Plastic crystals with ferroelectric properties could accelerate the development of additional flexible and cost-efficient materials for use in electronic devices.
From ACM TechNews
Artificial Intelligence: Are We Facing a Future of Robots Running Wild?
The University of Southern California Center on Artificial Intelligence for Social Solutions studies how AI can be utilized to address a wide range of social problems.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Find Vulnerabilities in Cars Connected to Smartphones
Researchers at New York and George Mason universities have found vulnerabilities in a system of rules that enable vehicles to communicate with smartphones.
From ACM News
Xsede 2.0: The Nsf Doubles Down
The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded $110 million to the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment.
From ACM Careers
How Apple Helped Create Ireland's Economies, Real and Fantastical
There are two equally valid, yet seemingly incompatible, ways of viewing Apple Computer's relationship with Ireland.
From ACM News
Carbon Nanotube Transistors Finally Outperform Silicon
Back in the 1990s, observers predicted that the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) would be the nanomaterial that pushed silicon aside and created a post-CMOS world where Moore’s Law could continue its march towards ever-smaller…
From ACM News
Mars Contamination Fear Could Divert Curiosity Rover
Four years into its travels across Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover faces an unexpected challenge: wending its way safely among dozens of dark streaks that could indicate water seeping from the red planet's hillsides.
From ACM News
Philae Found!
Less than a month before the end of the mission, Rosetta's high-resolution camera has revealed the Philae lander wedged into a dark crack on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
From ACM TechNews
3 New Programming Languages: What Their Creators Say
The creators of three new open source languages say they fulfill unique needs.
From ACM TechNews
Msu Technology Could Help Keep Elderly Safe in Their Homes
Michigan State University researchers are exploring whether home Wi-Fi systems can preserve the privacy of the elderly while detecting abnormal events in their homes.
From ACM TechNews
Keystroke Recognition ses Wi-Fi Signals to Snoop
Researchers have learned how to use off-the-shelf computer gear and a standard Wi-Fi connection to read keystrokes from a person in close proximity.
From ACM News
Jupiter's North Pole Unlike Anything Encountered in Solar System
NASA's Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter's north pole, taken during the spacecraft's first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on.
From ACM News
No Sailors Needed: Robot Sailboats Scour the Oceans for Data
Two robotic sailboats trace lawn-mower-style paths across the violent surface of the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska.
From ACM TechNews
How Maggots Are Influencing the Future of Robotics
The European Union-funded MINIMAL project says the learning processes of fruit fly larva (maggots) could have important applications for technology.
From ACM TechNews
Machine Learning Techniques Enable Models From Partial Image Data
Researchers say they have developed a method to automatically generate complete three-dimensional building models of a given area by using partial images.
From ACM TechNews
Colors From Darkness: Researchers Develop Alternative Approach to Quantum Computing
Aalto University researchers in Finland have demonstrated the suitability of microwave signals in the coding of information for quantum computing.
From ACM TechNews
.s. State Department Tackles Gender Gap in STEM Participation
The U.S. Department of State is seeking to address the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.
From ACM TechNews
How Machine Learning Can Help With Voice Disorders
A new diagnostic approach using machine learning could help detect speech disorders exacerbated by vocal misuse.
From ACM TechNews
Poker-Playing AI 'bot' Carries Long-Range Impact
Florida International University professor Sam Ganzfried says computer poker research generates ideas that are starting to have applications in medicine and security.
From ACM News
Ceres' Geological Activity, Ice Revealed in New Research
A lonely 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain on Ceres is likely volcanic in origin, and the dwarf planet may have a weak, temporary atmosphere.
From ACM News
What Starlight Teaches S About Space (pretty Much Everything)
In the southern sky, there is a constellation called Centaurus, its arms outstretched and its flanks straddling the famous Southern Cross.
From ACM News
How Spy Tech Firms Let Governments See Everything on a Smartphone
Want to invisibly spy on 10 iPhone owners without their knowledge? Gather their every keystroke, sound, message and location?
From Communications of the ACM
Reconciling Quantum Physics with Math
Mathematicians explore the root of many problems in developing a proof for the Kadison-Singer problem.