Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2019
From ACM TechNews
Climate Model Developed by ISGlobal Researchers Provides Long-Term Predictions of 'El Nino' Events
Researchers at Spain's Barcelona Institute for Global Health have developed a statistical climate model that can predict El Nino events up to 30 months in advance.
From ACM TechNews
Natural Language Interface for Data Visualization Debuts
VisFlow is a framework that even novices can use to create highly flexible visualizations from almost any data.
From ACM TechNews
CMU Researchers Find Google's New Congestion Control Algorithm Does Not Treat Data Fairly
Researchers have shown that a new congestion control algorithm developed by Google may compete unfairly with other services on overloaded networks.
From ACM TechNews
Building an Interoperable Smart City Architecture
The Smart City Interoperability Reference Architecture aims to develop standards and practices to make disaster response more effective.
From ACM News
Bias, Harassment Drive Women from STEM Jobs: Survey
Nearly half of female professionals in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics jobs surveyed said they have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.
From ACM News
Facebook is Under Fire for Political Ads. Twitter Just Banned Them Completely.
Twitter will ban political ads—both for candidates and for specific issues—starting November 22, according to CEO Jack Dorsey.
From ACM TechNews
Team of Syrian Refugees Wins Robotics Event
Five teenaged Syrian refugees working together as Team Hope led a four-team alliance to win the grand finale of the FIRST Global Challenge 2019 in Dubai.
From ACM TechNews
Marines Try Using Drones to Bring Blood to Battle
Startup Zipline has demonstrated how next-generation delivery drones could bring medical and other supplies to the battlefield.
From ACM TechNews
Surrey AI Research Achieves World-Leading Technology for Visual Recognition of People
A unique, lightweight deep neural network could greatly enhance the use of artificial intelligence's in video surveillance.
From ACM TechNews
Rebel Robot Helps Researchers Understand Human-Machine Cooperation
Researchers have developed a handheld robot that predicts a user's plans, then frustrates the user by rebelling against those plans, demonstrating an understanding of human intention.
From ACM News
Quantum Photonics Spawns Optical Age
Initial applications could include optical quantum sensors, optical quantum transistors, and optically uncrackable quantum encryption.
From ACM TechNews
Robots Can Learn How to Support Teachers in Class Sessions
Robots can learn techniques supportive of teachers in classrooms in only three hours, according to researchers at the universities of Plymouth, Lincoln, and the West of England in the U.K.
From ACM TechNews
Voice Assistants Follow Inaudible Commands
Researchers have developed exploits against voice assistants by encoding inaudible commands in songs and other audio content.
From ACM TechNews
RIT Researchers Win First Place in Facebook Research Eye-Tracking Challenge
RIT researchers took the top prize in Facebook Research's OpenEDS Challenge for developing a real-time eye-tracking technique.
From ACM TechNews
Bioprinting: Living Cells in a 3D Printer
Researchers have developed a high-resolution bioprinting process with completely new materials, involving the use of a special "bio ink" for three-dimensional printing.
From ACM TechNews
Helping Autonomous Vehicles See Around Corners
Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers have created a system that perceives tiny fluctuations in ground shadows to ascertain whether an unseen object is coming around a corner.
From ACM TechNews
The Drones Are Coming! How Amazon, Alphabet, Uber Are Taking to the Skies
Companies including Amazon, Alphabet's Wing, and Uber, are launching more advanced trials of drone delivery.
From ACM TechNews
Tired of Long Lines? Canadian Grocery Chain Debuts Smart Carts with Self-Checkout
Nova Scotia, Canada-based grocery chain Sobeys has launched a pilot program using intelligent shopping carts that scan and weigh items, and allowing customers to pay on the spot.
From ACM News
Warning! AI Is Heading for a Cliff
Stuart Russell wants to harness artificial intelligence before it's too late.
From ACM News
Google Just Got Better at Understanding Your Trickiest Searches
Google is rolling out an update to its English-language search engine that vice president of search Pandu Nayak calls "the single biggest change we've had in the last five years and perhaps one of the biggest since the beginning…
From ACM TechNews
Swarm of Tiny Drones Explores Unknown Environments
Researchers created a swarm of tiny drones that can explore unknown environments on their own.
From ACM TechNews
Coding Classes Help Inmates Prepare for Productive Life Outside Prison
About 20 inmates at Michigan's Parnall Correctional Facility have been learning the basics of front-end Web design for the last two months through a program provided by nonprofit The Last Mile.
From ACM TechNews
Meet Edinburgh's 'Trimbot,' the Rose Pruning, Bush Trimming Auto-Gardening Robot
Researchers have developed a self-guiding gardening robot that navigates via five pairs of cameras and three-dimensional mapping.
From ACM TechNews
AI Could Help Count How Many People are in Large Crowds
German Aerospace Center researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that can accurately count the number of people in large crowds.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Find Racial Bias in Hospital Algorithm
A predictive hospital algorithm was more likely to choose white patients to receive additional medical assistance than black patients.
From ACM TechNews
Soft Actuators Could Make Soft Robots Less Bulky
University of California, San Diego engineers have developed soft, tubular actuators with electrically driven movements for compact, portable, and multifunctional soft robots.
From ACM TechNews
Use of AI Poised to Grow in State Government, Survey Finds
A survey of state chief information officers found many U.S. states are exploring the use of artificial intelligence.
From ACM TechNews
Big Data Technique Reveals Previously Unknown Capabilities of Common Materials
Researchers have found a new way to optimize nickel by unlocking properties that could enable a range of applications, from quantum computing to biosensors.
From ACM TechNews
CPDoS Attack Can Poison CDNs to Deliver Error Pages Instead of Legitimate Sites
Researchers in Germany discovered a new type of Web attack that can compromise content delivery networks into caching and then serving error pages instead of legitimate websites.
From ACM News
Holding Algorithms Accountable
How can we battle algorithmic bias?