Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2014
From ACM News
Google Developing a Pill That Would Detect Cancer and Other Diseases
Google is attempting to develop a pill that would send microscopic particles into the bloodstream in an effort to identify cancers, imminent heart attacks, and other diseases.
From ACM News
Brain Decoder Can Eavesdrop on Your Inner Voice
Talking to yourself used to be a strictly private pastime.
From ACM TechNews
Technology Group Promises Scientists Their Own Clouds (the Data Kind)
The nonprofit Internet2 organization is now offering researchers the opportunity to create clouds that will be connected by its network.
From ACM TechNews
Anne Condon: Computer Scientist. Passionate Academic. Triathlete.
Anne Condon, head of the computer science department at the University of British Columbia, is dedicated to helping young women find their way in the field.
From ACM TechNews
Taking the Census, With Cellphones
A new study by Belgian researchers demonstrates that big data analytics can turn cellphone records into highly granular population density data.
From ACM TechNews
Stanford Libraries nearths the Earliest .s. Website
Stanford Libraries has launched Stanford Wayback, a customized version of an open-source platform that enables long-term access to archived Web assets.
From ACM TechNews
Projecting a Robot's Intentions
Measurable virtual reality combines ceiling-mounted projectors with motion-capture technology and animation software to project a robot's intentions in real time.
From ACM News
Cassini Sees Sunny Seas on Titan
As it soared past Saturn's large moon Titan recently, NASA's Cassini spacecraft caught a glimpse of bright sunlight reflecting off hydrocarbon seas.
From ACM News
Boot Camps Promise Phds Fast Track to a Data Science Career
Are boot camps sound educational investments, or just a rush to cash in?
From ACM News
Beyond Gaming, the Vr Boom Is Everywhere—from Classrooms to Therapy Couches
When Oculus almost single-handedly revived the idea of virtual reality from its '90s vaporware grave, it chose the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo as the place to unveil the first public prototype of the Rift headset.
From ACM News
Directing Planes, By Remote Control
On a clear day, Per Granquist cannot see forever. But from his perch inside the airport control tower here, he does have an unobstructed view of the future.
From ACM TechNews
Tu/e-Researchers Demonstrate Record Data Transmission Over a Specially Fabricated Fiber
A new class of fiber will increase transmission capacity, mitigating an impending "capacity crunch" in communication networks from increasing bandwidth demand.
From ACM TechNews
Breakthrough in Molecular Electronics Paves the Way For Dna-Based Computer Circuits in the Future
Researchers say they have achieved reproducible and quantitative measurements of electricity flow through long molecules made of four DNA strands.
From ACM TechNews
Study: Some Online Shoppers Pay More Than Others
The personalization of online content can be both beneficial and detrimental to users, according to a study by Northeastern University researchers.
From ACM TechNews
Dhs Sketches the Tech Future
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security undersecretary for science and technology has unveiled the long-term agenda of the agency's research and development arm.
From ACM News
Computers Are Learning to See the World Like We Do
What animal is in the picture above?
From ACM News
Google's Secretive Deepmind Start-up nveils A 'neural Turing Machine'
One of the great challenges of neuroscience is to understand the short-term working memory in the human brain.
From ACM News
Prepare For the Part-Time Self-Driving Car
Self-driving AI cars have been a staple in popular culture for some time—any child of the 1980s will fondly remember both the Autobots and Knight Rider's KITT—but consider them to be science fiction no longer.
From ACM News
The Rise of Human-Like Robots, Cars and Drones
Ginger is only a couple of feet tall, but she soon commands attention as she takes to the stage. "I would like to say it's a pleasure to be here," she tells the audience, "but I’m a robot and don't have emotion."
From ACM TechNews
Could a Robot Do Your Job?
Advances in technology could mean people in low-skill jobs will be replaced by robots.
From ACM TechNews
Met Office to Build Supercomputer
The British government will spend 97 million British pounds on a new supercomputer to improve the Met Office's weather forecasting and climate modeling.
From ACM Opinion
Demystifying the Mooc
When massive open online courses first grabbed the spotlight in 2011, many saw in them promise of a revolutionary force that would disrupt traditional higher education by expanding access and reducing costs.
From ACM TechNews
Hello? Sweat and a Smartphone Could Become the Hot New Health Screening
University of Cincinnati researchers are developing wearable devices that analyze sweat using a smartphone to gather medical information in near-real time.
From ACM TechNews
Machine-Learning Maestro Michael Jordan on the Delusions of Big Data and Other Huge Engineering Efforts
University of California, Berkeley professor Michael I. Jordan says rhetoric about machine learning and other computer science fields goes too far.
From ACM TechNews
Maria Klawe: Esteemed Computer Scientist. Proud Mathematician. Watercolor Painter.
One of the chief goals of Maria Klawe as president of Harvey Mudd College has been to encourage women to enter computer science.
From ACM News
Met Office to Build £97m Supercomputer
The facility will work 13 times faster than the current system, enabling detailed, UK-wide forecast models with a resolution of 1.5km to be run every single hour, rather than every three.
From ACM TechNews
We Could've Stopped Ebola If We Listened to the Data
Computational epidemiologists were some of the first to sound alarm bells about the potential for a dangerous Ebola outbreak in West Africa earlier this year.
From ACM News
How Facebook Is Changing the Way Its sers Consume Journalism
Many of the people who read this article will do so because Greg Marra, 26, a Facebook engineer, calculated that it was the kind of thing they might enjoy.
From ACM News
This Guy's Quest to Track Every Shot in the Nba Changed Basketball Forever
As a kid, Kirk Goldsberry was a rabid basketball fan. But this was the 1980s, and living near Penn State meant his house wasn't quite close enough to Philadelphia to get 76ers games on TV.
From ACM News
Software Tackles Inflatable Structures
Creating optimal 3D shapes in inflatables requires the power of computation.