Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2021
From ACM TechNews
Medicine From the Sky in Bengaluru: Trial Run for Drone Delivery Successful
India's Ministry of Civil Aviation said a trial run of beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone delivery of medicines was completed successfully in Bengaluru.
From ACM TechNews
Rent-a-Robot: Silicon Valley's Answer to Labor Shortage in Smaller U.S. Factories
Venture capitalists are investing in leasing robots from Silicon Valley startups to smaller U.S. factories amid a labor shortage.
From ACM TechNews
Student-Athletes Required to Wear COVID Trackers at Washington State High School
Some student-athletes and coaches at Eatonville High School in Eatonville, WA, are being required to wear proximity monitors to trace potential COVID-19 exposure.
From ACM News
The $150 Million Machine Keeping Moore's Law Alive
From ACM News
Technology to the Rescue
Updating emergency rescue equipment and tactics with digital technologies.
From ACM News
The World Is Still Short of Everything. Get Used to It.
Pandemic-related product shortages from computer chips to construction materials were supposed to be resolved by now. Instead, the world has gained a lesson in the ripple effects of disruption.
From ACM News
Ultrafast Electron Microscopy Leads to Pivotal Discovery for the Development of New Quantum Devices
Ultrafast electron microscope opens up new avenues for the development of sensors and quantum devices.
From ACM TechNews
Balakrishnan Receives 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award From SIGCOMM
The ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication has awarded its 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award to Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Hari Balakrishnan.
From ACM TechNews
Bad Solar Storm Could Cause an 'Internet Apocalypse'
A study by Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi at the University of California, Irvine on the potential impact of a coronal mass ejection on the global Internet finds that continent-connecting undersea cables would be at particular risk from…
From ACM TechNews
Have You Really Deleted Your Personal Data From Your Device When You Dispose of It?
Many users leave sensitive personal information on their electronic devices when discarding them, according to scientists at Canada's universities of Guelph and Waterloo.
From ACM TechNews
Python Dominates as De Facto Platform for New Technologies
IEEE Spectrum's 2021 interactive rankings of the top programming languages lists Python as the platform of choice for new technologies. The continued dominance of C, C++, Java, and JavaScript speaks to the massive corpus of code…
From ACM TechNews
More Than 50 Robots Work at Singapore High-Tech Hospital
Over 50 robots are working at Singapore's Changi General Hospital, performing activities ranging from surgery to administrative activities.
From ACM TechNews
Harnessing the Particle-Tracking Power of the Algorithm
Researchers have developed a faster, more accurate three-dimensional particle-tracking system for monitoring the motion of particles in flow.
From ACM TechNews
Baby Detector Software in Digital Camera Rivals ECG
New software uses a digital camera to automatically detect a baby's face in a hospital bed and remotely monitor its health.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Reveal World's First 3D-Printed Wagyu Beef
Scientists at Japan's Osaka University have unveiled what they are calling the first-ever three-dimensionally-printed Wagyu beef, created using stem cells extracted from cattle.
From ACM TechNews
Wing Approaches 100,000 Drone Deliveries 2 Years After Launch
Two years after its pilot launched in Logan, Australia, Alphabet's drone delivery company Wing is nearing its 100,000th customer delivery.
From ACM TechNews
Who Can Bend Light for Cheaper Internet?
A new system can maintain network connections when optical fibers break by reconfiguring optical transmissions from damaged fibers to healthy ones.
From ACM TechNews
Surprisingly Popular Voting Algorithm to Recover Ranked Choices
Researchers have developed an algorithm that can retrieve ranked choices by combining people's own opinions or votes with their predictions of others' responses.
From ACM News
Deepfakes Are Now Making Business Pitches
The video technology, initially associated with porn, is gaining a foothold in the corporate world.
From ACM News
No More Silicon? Company Develops Glass CPU for Quantum Computing
It seems evaporated glass, chains of ions, and quantum stability go hand in hand.
From ACM News
How Safe is a Quantum-Safe Virtual Private Network?
Verizon aims to find out by testing the technology, which is geared at enhancing encryption methods using session key exchange security mechanisms, the carrier said.
From ACM News
At White House Summit, U.S. Tech Giants Promise To Spend Billions More To Bolster Cybersecurity
The tech giants also pledged to step up their efforts to address a dire talent shortage that has hampered efforts to counter hacking.
From ACM TechNews
One Material with Two Functions Could Lead to Faster Memory
A new device simultaneously stores and visually transmits data with a single semiconductor.
From ACM TechNews
Study Suggests Algorithm May Help Optimize Future COVID-19 Vaccine Design
Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have developed an adaptive algorithm to help optimize the design of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines.
From ACM TechNews
DARPA Drone Cybersecurity Software Foils Hackers in Demo
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says the hackers it invited to try to hack the High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems all failed.
From ACM TechNews
Turning the Tables into Touchscreens
Scientists built a touchscreen-like interface that can operate on any flat surface via a projector synchronized with a single camera.
From ACM News
Life as a Logician
Mathematician Martin Jackson is known for his work on Hilbert's Tenth Problem, among other things.
From ACM News
U.S. PC Shipments Jump 17% Buoyed by Commercial, Educational Demand
Notebooks turned in the best performance during the second quarter of 2021, while desktops saw a healthy rebound, says Canalys.
From ACM News
Autonomous Electric Cargo Ship will Make First Voyage This Year
It will transport its first container from the town of Herøya to Brevik in Norway.
From ACM News
Federal Government to Expand Use of Facial Recognition Despite Growing Concerns
Federal government to expand use of facial recognition despite growing concerns.