Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2011
From ACM News
The Ph.d. Problem: Are We Giving Out Too Many Degrees?
In developed nations, the number of Ph.D.s given in the sciences each year has grown by almost 40% since 1998, reaching about 34,000 doctorates in 2008. This type of expansion sounds great in theory: interest in the sciences…
From ACM TechNews
App-Specific Processors to Fight Dark Silicon
University of California, San Diego researchers working on the GreenDroid project have developed software that scans the Android operating system and its most popular applications to create a processor design tailored to their…
From ACM TechNews
Rutgers Team Proposes Net Alternative
Rutgers University researchers recently launched MondoNet, a wireless network initiative designed to create a more open alternative to the Internet.
From ACM News
A Glimpse Inside Google's Beijing Headquarters
Google may appear to be under siege in China, but a sense of normalcy—Google style—pervades the company's headquarters here.
From ACM News
Google, a Giant in Mobile Search, Seeks New Ways to Make It Pay
In early 2008, in the early days of the iPhone era, Google engineers began noticing something unusual in the search engine’s logs. Owners of these new phones were doing a huge number of Web searches.
From ACM News
Origami: Not Just For Paper Anymore
While the primary job of DNA in cells is to carry genetic information from one generation to the next, some scientists also see the highly stable and programmable molecule as an ideal building material for nanoscale structures…
From ACM News
Voyager Set to Enter Interstellar Space
More than 30 years after they left Earth, NASA's twin Voyager probes are now at the edge of the solar system.
From ACM News
Court Hears Arguments In Data Mining Case
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared split on Tuesday as it considered a case testing state limits on data mining. At issue is whether states can bar the buying, selling and profiling of a doctor's prescription records without…
From ACM TechNews
Cloud Computing and Internet se Suck Energy, Emit Co2, Says Greenpeace
If it were a country, the Internet would rank fifth in the world in electricity usage, according to a new report on cloud computing from Greenpeace.
From ACM TechNews
Caterpillars Inspire New Movements in Soft Robots
A strategy that caterpillars employ to escape predators could be used to improve the speed of soft-bodied search-and-rescue robots, say Tufts University researchers.
From ACM TechNews
a Engineers Win Patent For Protein-Based Electronic Circuits
University of Arizona researchers have patented a process for building microscopic wiring circuits made of copper insulated by proteins known as microtubules.
From ACM TechNews
Tools For Better Web Design
Stanford University's Human Computer Interaction group creates tools to help Web designers take advantage of open source programs to improve and adapt designs more quickly.
From ACM Opinion
Jobs and Apple Execs on Tracking Down the Facts About Iphones and Location
Although Apple was silent for several days after researchers raised issues about location information being stored on the iPhone, that wasn’t because it was ignoring the issue.
From ACM News
Mac vs. Pc: The Stereotypes May Be True
Remember those Apple ads that cast the Mac as a 20-something, self-satisfied hipster while the PC was portrayed by an older, square-looking guy in a brown suit?
From ACM News
China: 900 Million Mobile sers Asking Themselves "iphone or Android"?
In Apple's second quarter, iPhone sales in China surged nearly 250% year over year, making the country the iPhone's fastest growing market—a title it will retain for some time to come given soaring mobile phone adoption rates…
From ACM News
Learning Science Through Gaming
An MIT-produced interactive game, "Vanished," now being played by thousands online, offers a novel experiment in alternative science education.
From ACM News
Digging Deeper, Seeing Farther: Supercomputers Alter Science
Inside a darkened theater a viewer floats in a redwood forest displayed with Imax-like clarity on a cavernous overhead screen.
From ACM News
Mars's Frozen Ocean of Carbon Dioxide
Mars is a dry, frigid, dusty, nearly airless place. A couple of billion years ago, though, it wasn't much different from Earth.
From ACM News
The Really Smart Phone
Researchers are harvesting a wealth of intimate detail from our cellphone data, uncovering the hidden patterns of our social lives, travels, risk of disease—even our political views.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Create Functioning Synapse sing Carbon Nanotubes
Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines circuit design with nanotechnology, University of Southern California researchers have built a circuit that acts like a neuron.
From ACM TechNews
Quantum Computer Scientist's Aim
University of Arkansas physicist Jak Chakhalian is seeking a new miniature building block for quantum computers, using a new class of nanomaterials known as topological insulators.
From ACM TechNews
Chemical Computers Solve Shapely Puzzles
Chemical computers can solve certain problems in computational geometry, according to University of West England professor Andrew Adamatzky and colleagues.
From ACM News
Finding Experts: It's Who You Know
While current expert-finding methods provided the best expert in six out of 10 searches, a new user-oriented method finds the best one nine times out of 10, according to the researchers.
From ACM News
Joichi Ito Named Director of MIT Media Lab
MIT announced that Joichi (“Joi” — pronounced “Joey”) Ito has been selected as the next director of the MIT Media Lab.
From ACM News
Apple, Google Leagues Ahead in Developer Survey
Google lost some ground in its effort to catch Apple's lead in the effort to attract mobile developer interest, but other rivals aren't even close, survey data released today show.
From ACM News
Iran Target of New Cyber Attack
Iran has been targeted by a new computer worm named Stars, the director of Iran's Passive Defense Organization announces.
From ACM News
When There
Information overload is a headache for individuals and a huge challenge for businesses. Companies are swimming, if not drowning, in wave after wave of data—from increasingly sophisticated computer tracking of shipments, sales…
From ACM News
Indie Truckers: Keep Big Brother Out Of My Cab
Terry Button is a fifth-generation farmer from upstate New York who also works as a long-distance trucker, hauling hay and produce up and down the East Coast.
From ACM TechNews
Cybersecurity System Mimics Human Immune Response
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Bruce McConnell recently released a white paper about a healthy ecosystem of computers that can automatically recognize and react to threats.
From ACM TechNews
Designs With a Deeper Purpose
Microsoft software design specialist Bill Buxton wants developers to focus on innovations that can improve humans' quality of life.