Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2018
From ACM News
The World's Strongest MRI Machines Are Pushing Human Imaging to New Limits
On a cold morning in Minneapolis last December, a man walked into a research centre to venture where only pigs had gone before: into the strongest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine built to scan the human body.
From ACM News
This Robot Transforms Itself to Navigate an Obstacle Course
When you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail, but the world starts to look more interesting if your hammer can change shape.
From ACM News
Sarita Adve Named Recipient of ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award
From ACM News
Electronic Voting Was Going to Be the Future. Now Paper's Making a Comeback
You could call it buyer's remorse. Five US states went all in on electronic voting machines, and four of those states are poised to get out.
From ACM TechNews
Need to Fix an iPhone or Android Device? You Can Now Break DRM nder New .S. Rules
It is now legal in the U.S. for consumers and repair companies to break an electronic device's digital rights management protections in order to to repair it.
From ACM TechNews
NATO Military Exercise Will Test Robots, Autonomous Vehicles
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is conducting a month-long military exercise using a variety of new technologies.
From ACM TechNews
Grocers Enlist Robots to Chase E-Commerce
Grocers are deploying robots and artificial intelligence to boost warehouse efficiency amid intensifying competition for consumer food spending.
From ACM TechNews
Puerto Rico Is Fighting Zika With Cloud Technology
A project to track Zika-carrying mosquitoes across Puerto Rico is developing solutions that could help other parts of the world cope with mosquito-borne diseases.
From ACM TechNews
The Next Big One? Earthquake Scientists Look to AI
Scientists are using artificial intelligence to improve data analysis to better understand earthquakes, predict their behavior, and warn of seismic events faster and more accurately.
From ACM News
Computer Theorists Show Path to Verifying that Quantum Beats Classical
There have been parallel efforts to find a way to prove that quantum supremacy has been achieved.
From ACM News
NASA Retires Kepler Space Telescope, Passes Planet-Hunting Torch
After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets—more planets even than stars—NASA's Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel needed for further science operations…
From ACM News
Happy with a 20% Chance of Sadness
In the winter of 1994, a young man in his early twenties named Tim was a patient in a London psychiatric hospital.
From ACM TechNews
AI Makes New Video Games by Watching People Play Super Mario, Kirby
A machine learning system taught itself the basics of video game design by watching videos of people playing games.
From ACM TechNews
NIH Grant Funds Development of a Wayfinding App for the Blind
Researchers are using $1.1-million U.S. National Institutes of Health grant to develop a student's system for guiding the blind into an iPhone app.
From ACM TechNews
New Technology Advances Protection of Critical Systems From Insider-Assisted Attacks
A new covert defense algorithm employs evasive tactics to deceive cyberattackers targeting critical systems from within.
From ACM News
The Outlook for Superconducting Computers
Will superconductors outrace silicon?
From ACM News
What Does a Crooked Election Look Like?
For voters around the world, including the millions of Americans who will cast ballots in the midterms up to and on November 6, an election is democracy in action—an opportunity to make their voices heard, have a say in how their…
From ACM News
A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley
"I am convinced the devil lives in our phones."
From ACM News
Europe Shows First Cards in €1-Billion Quantum Bet
Plans to build two working quantum computers are among the first winners to be announced in a €1-billion (US$1.1 billion) funding initiative of the European Commission.
From ACM News
The .S. Pushes to Build nhackable Quantum Networks
A few years ago, Edward Snowden, a contractor working for the US National Security Agency, leaked documents that showed the ways in which intelligence agencies were spying on our data. One of the most striking revelations was…
From ACM TechNews
Building a Fly Brain in a Computer
Researchers have built a neural network that mimics the fruit fly's visual system, and can distinguish and re-identify flies.
From ACM TechNews
Efforts to Acknowledge the Risks of New AI Technology
The ACM Future of Computing Academy is calling for researchers to specify the potentially negative societal aspects of artificial intelligence technologies, as well as their benefits.
From ACM TechNews
Origami Cushions Protect Drones From Collisions
Researchers have outfitted flying drones with lightweight, impact-absorbent cushioning inspired by origami to shield them from collisions.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Industry Lobby Proposes Data Privacy Laws; Critics Call Them Weak
The Information Technology Industry Council has proposed a conceptual framework for legislation to protect consumer privacy and limit how personal data may be used.
From ACM TechNews
Army Scientists Develop Computational Model to Predict Human Behavior
U.S. Army Research Laboratory scientists have developed an analytic model to show how groups of people influence the behavior of individuals.
From ACM TechNews
Japan Preschools sing Tablets to Prep Tots for Digital Age
Almost 400 kindergartens and nursery schools in Japan are using smartphone software applications on tablet computers to enable "digital play" among preschoolers.
From ACM News
China Rattles Washington's Tech Debates
A common thread is running through nearly every tech debate in Washington these days: fear that an ambitious China is poised to win the next wave of technology.
From ACM News
IBM to Acquire Software Company Red Hat for $34 billion
The transaction, underscores IBM Chief Executive Ginni Rometty's efforts to expand the company's subscription-based software offerings as it faces slowing software sales and waning demand for mainframe servers.
From ACM News
China Has Been "Hijacking the Vital Internet Backbone of Western Countries"
The Chinese government turned to a local ISP for intelligence gathering after it signed the Obama-Xi cyberpact in late 2015, the researchers say.
From ACM News
NASA's InSight Will Study Mars While Standing Still
You don't need wheels to explore Mars.