Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2021
From ACM TechNews
Robot Delivers the Dough on College Campuses
Delivery robot manufacturer Starship Technologies recently expanded its robot-based food delivery services to two additional campuses.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Leading Race in AI, with China Rising: Survey
A study of 2020 data by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation confirmed the U.S. leads the world in the development and use of artificial intelligence.
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputers Aid Scientists Studying the Smallest Particles in the Universe
A team of scientists used the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Summit supercomputer to measure quark interactions in hadrons.
From ACM TechNews
Estonia Leads World in Making Digital Voting Reality
Estonia's i-Voting online voting system was used to cast more than 40% of ballots in its March 2019 parliamentary elections.
From ACM TechNews
Shenoy Named ACM SIGEnergy Founding Chair
University of Massachusetts Amherst Distinguished Professor Prashant Shenoy has been named founding chair of the new ACM Special Interest Group on Energy (SIGENERGY).
From ACM News
Apple CEO Sounds Warning of Algorithms Pushing Society Towards Catastrophe
Tim Cook says there will be consequences to having 'rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms'.
From ACM News
Microsoft Claims Breakthrough in Quantum Computing with Gooseberry Chip and Cryo-computing Core
The company says its new system is a leap ahead from previous technology.
From ACM TechNews
Approach to AI Offers More Certainty in the Face of Uncertainty
Researchers formulated a new artificial intelligence method for reasoning about uncertainty.
From ACM TechNews
Computational Tool Reliably Differentiates Between Cancer, Normal Cells From Single-Cell RNA-Sequencing Data
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a computational tool that can reliably distinguish between cancerous and normal cells in tumor samples.
From ACM TechNews
Bio-Inspired Robotics: Learning From Dragonflies
Scientists have decrypted the biomechanical function of the labial mask of dragonfly larvae, leading to a bio-inspired robot modeled after the same operating principle.
From ACM News
It's Too Easy to Hide Bias in Deep-Learning Systems
Artificial intelligence makes it hard to tell when decision-making is biased.
From ACM News
Helping NASA Return to the Moon
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is the first woman to serve as launch director for the U.S. space agency.
From ACM News
What We Learned From Apple’s New Privacy Labels
Requiring that app makers list the data they collect reveals a lot about what some apps do with our information (ahem, WhatsApp) but creates confusion about others.
From ACM News
LAMBDA: The Ultimate Excel Worksheet Function
Lambda allows users to define new functions written in Excel's own formula language.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Use Novel Ink to 3D-Print 'Bone' With Living Cells
A technology developed at Australia's University of New South Wales Sydney enables three-dimensional printers to print bone-like structures, complete with living cells.
From ACM TechNews
Chess Engine Sacrifices Mastery to Mimic Human Play
A team of researchers has developed an artificial intelligence chess engine that is trained to play like, rather than beat, humans.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Propose Porcupine, a Compiler for Homomorphic Encryption
A synthesizing compiler for homomorphic encryption can translate a plain-text unencrypted codebase into encrypted code on the fly.
From ACM TechNews
When a Story is Breaking, AI Can Help Consumers Identify Fake News
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers have determined that artificial intelligence can help assess news stories accurately, but only when a story is first emerging.
From ACM TechNews
Battle of the Robots Still Favors Japan, Europe--For Now
China continues to be the biggest market for industrial robots, even though the market’s growth had been slowing prior to the pandemic, due to the U.S.-China trade war.
From ACM TechNews
Women Primed to Fill Cybersecurity Talent Gap
Cybersecurity analysts are in great demand thanks to the surge in remote work due to the pandemic; hiring more women can help narrow the talent gap.
From ACM News
They Found a Way to Limit Big Tech’s Power: Using the Design of Bitcoin
Companies inspired by the cryptocurrency are creating social networks, storing online content and hosting websites without any central authority.
From ACM TechNews
AI Set to Replace Humans in Cybersecurity by 2030, Says Trend Micro Survey
In a survey of information technology leaders, 41% of respondents expect artificial intelligence to take over their roles by 2030.
From ACM TechNews
ML Method Makes Better Predictions of Material Properties Using Low Quality Data
Nanoengineers have developed a new machine learning method that uses low-quality data to predict material properties with greater accuracy than existing models.
From ACM TechNews
MeitY Collaborates With Amazon to Set Up India's First Quantum Computing Lab
India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services to develop a Quantum Computing Applications Lab.
From ACM News
'Are You Real?'
An ecosystem is emerging for ‘digital human’ development.
From ACM News
Ethical-source Movement Opens New Open-source Organization
Ethical-source leaders are trying to find more support for their open-source approach by creating the Organization for Ethical Source.
From ACM TechNews
How Lobsters Can Help Make Stronger 3D-Printed Concrete
Special three-dimensional printing patterns designed by researchers at Australia's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology were inspired by lobster shells.
From ACM TechNews
Smart Algorithm Bursts Social Networks' 'Filter Bubbles'
Finnish and Danish researchers have developed an algorithm that boosts diversity of exposure on social networks, while still ensuring widely shared content.
From ACM TechNews
Do Simulations Represent the Real World at the Atomic Scale?
Scientists have developed a validation protocol for simulations of the atomic structure of an interface between a solid metallic oxide and liquid water.
From ACM TechNews
DNSpooq Lets Attackers Poison DNS Cache Records
Researchers have uncovered seven vulnerabilities that affect Dnsmasq, a domain name system forwarding client for *NIX-based operating systems.