Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2018
From ACM News
Need to Make a Molecule? Ask This AI for Instructions
Chemists have a new lab assistant: artificial intelligence. Researchers have developed a "deep learning" computer program that produces blueprints for the sequences of reactions needed to create small organic molecules, such …
From ACM News
To Speed p AI, Mix Memory and Processing
If John von Neumann were designing a computer today, there's no way he would build a thick wall between processing and memory. At least, that's what computer engineer Naresh Shanbhag of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign…
From ACM TechNews
Watch a Computer Learn to Play 'Doom' Inside a Dream
Researchers taught a machine to "hallucinate" its idea of the video game "Doom," then got a virtual agent to play its own dream version of the game so it could learn to play the real thing.
From ACM TechNews
Overcoming a Battery's Fatal Flaw
Researchers are using the Stampede and Lonestar supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center to develop next-generation lithium-metal batteries.
From ACM TechNews
Future Electric Cars Could Recharge Wirelessly While You Drive
Researchers are working on the development of electric vehicles that one day may be able to charge while driving, by drawing wireless power from plates installed in the road.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Develop Tooth-Mounted Sensors That Can Track What You Eat
Tufts University researchers have built tooth-mounted sensors that collect information on one's glucose, salt, and alcohol intake.
From ACM TechNews
ltrasound Patch Could Make it Easier to Inspect Damage in Odd-Shaped Structures
A new flexible patch could help perform ultrasound imaging on objects difficult to inspect with conventional ultrasound equipment.
From ACM News
Companies Seek Ways to Hold On to Customer Data nder New E Privacy Law
Nicholas Oliver gathers reams of personal information about users of his mobile app: age, sex, location, profession, relationship status, and more—and uses it to send them targeted advertising.
From ACM News
'Marsquakes' Could Shake p Planetary Science
Starting next year, scientists will get their first look deep below the surface of Mars.
From ACM News
The Scant Science Behind Cambridge Analytica's Controversial Marketing Techniques
The practices of Cambridge Analytica, a data-analytics firm involved in US President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, have made headlines around the world this month.
From ACM TechNews
Weird Magnetic Behavior Could Improve Computer Memory
A new study suggests an unusual magnetic phenomenon could yield efficient, low-power computer memory.
From ACM TechNews
Princeton Senior ses Big Data to Examine Global Digital Gender Gap
A Princeton University student used Facebook's advertising audience estimates to reveal insights on the global digital gender gap.
From ACM TechNews
Mobile Apps Could Hold Key to Parkinson's Research, Care
Smartphone software and technology can furnish an objective measure of the progression of Parkinson's disease symptoms.
From ACM TechNews
Deep Learning Model as Accurate as Radiologists Determining Age of Child Bones
Researchers have demonstrated that a deep learning convolutional network model can estimate bone age as well as human radiologists.
From ACM News
Earbud Translators: Not Perfect, Still Handy
Utility is high, even though the translations may be limited.
From ACM News
Are We Already Living in Virtual Reality?
Thomas Metzinger had his first out-of-body experience when he was nineteen.
From ACM News
A Needle in a Legal Haystack Could Sink a Major Supreme Court Privacy Case
It looks like one of the marquee cases before the U.S. Supreme Court is about to go bust—sabotaged by a needle in a legislative haystack.
From ACM TechNews
How Twitter Bots Help Fuel Political Feuds
Researchers in the U.S. and China are studying a "misinformation network" related to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
From ACM TechNews
Atomically Thin Light-Emitting Device Opens the Possibility for 'Invisible' Displays
Engineers have built a millimeters-wide bright-light-emitting device that is fully transparent when deactivated.
From ACM TechNews
CR Researchers Take p Fight Against Fake News
Researchers are developing ways to address problems in social network analysis, including dissemination of malicious misinformation.
From ACM TechNews
Could These Grain-Sized Computers sing Blockchain Networks Thwart Counterfeiters?
IBM researchers have developed granular microcomputers that could work with a blockchain electronic ledger to verify and track any product.
From ACM TechNews
Meet the Robot That Can Mimic Human Emotion
Charles is a robot that can mimic human facial expressions.
From ACM TechNews
Computers Made From Human Cells Could Tell You When You're Sick
Researchers say they have created the world's most complex biological computer, a group of engineered cells that could be implanted into the human body.
From ACM News
NSA Funds Summer Camp for Girls at SD Mines to Train the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Experts
From ACM News
What Lies Beneath: The Things Facebook Knows Go Beyond ser Data
In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica revelations regarding the exposure of profile data for millions of users, Facebook is now facing an investigation into its data-collection practices by the Federal Trade Commission.
From ACM News
Kepler Beyond Planets: Finding Exploding Stars
Astronomer Ed Shaya was in his office looking at data from NASA's Kepler space telescope in 2012 when he noticed something unusual: The light from a galaxy had quickly brightened by 10 percent.
From ACM News
The Secret Science That Rules Crowds
Sometimes, being part of a large crowd can be worse than uncomfortable: it can turn lethal. Deadly crowd crushes that occurred in 2017 include incidents in an Angolan football stadium, an Italian piazza and a Moroccan food aid…
From ACM TechNews
SC ISI Researchers Develop Computational Methods to ncover Hidden Trends in Human Behavior
Researchers have mined sensor data collected from volunteers to discover hidden trends in well-being, academic performance, and behavior.
From ACM TechNews
Not Even AI Can Make Total Sense of a Privacy Policy
A new tool uses artificial intelligence to crawl 7,000 of the Web's most popular sites to flag privacy policy issues of potential concern to specific users.
From ACM TechNews
These Micro-Robots Do the Breaststoke
Researchers placed magnetized spheres into a solution and subjected them to an "eccentric magnetic field" so they self-assemble with smaller spheres, attached by virtual hinges.