Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2011
From ACM TechNews
New Software Brings Science to Life For Young People
Researchers at the Economic and Social Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council have developed nQuire, a software toolkit that uses technology to spark young students' interest in science.
From ACM TechNews
Making Research Careers More Family-Friendly: White House and Nsf Announce New Policies
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the Career-Life Balance Initiative, which gives researchers more flexibility in the workplace and helps remove some of the hurdles to women's advancement and retention in…
From ACM TechNews
Argonne Researchers 'hack' Diebold E-Voting System
Argonne National Laboratory researchers recently demonstrated how the Diebold Accuvote TS machine can be hacked using inexpensive, widely available electronic components.
The researchers, led by Roger Johnston, were able to…From ACM TechNews
Wireless Network Can Watch Your Breathing
University of Utah researchers have found that wireless signals can indicate if people in the area are breathing. The researchers surrounded a volunteer with 20 inexpensive, off-the-shelf wireless units, which sent 2.4 gigahertz…
From ACM TechNews
Will Advanced Biometrics Automate Future War Machines?
At the recent Biometric Consortium Conference, researchers unveiled several prototypes of advanced camera-based systems that could be used to remotely capture needed biometrics information on combatants or suspected terrorists…
From ACM TechNews
Kinect Project Merges Real and Virtual Worlds
Microsoft researchers recently demonstrated KinectFusion, a research project that lets users generate three-dimensional (3D) models in real time using a standard Kinect system. The technology enables objects, people, and …
From ACM News
Nasa Plans High-Speed Space Communications System
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing a laser-based optical communications system that will be able to move data at rates of up to 100 times faster than its existing networks.
NASA plans…From ACM News
Which Telecoms Store Your Data the Longest? Secret Memo Tells All
The nation’s major mobile-phone providers are keeping a treasure trove of sensitive data on their customers, according to newly released Justice Department internal memo that for the first time reveals the data retention policies…
From ACM News
Supercomputer Simulations of the Evolution of the niverse
Two research articles describing the most accurate cosmological simulation of the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe yet made—named "Bolshoi" (the Russian word for "great” or "grand")—have been accepted…
From ACM News
How Rapidly Expanding Storage Spurs Innovation
Moore's Law gets all the press. It's easy to present even to non-technical readers, and the way it's most often expressed is something like, "computers double in speed every year," though that's a bastardization of the axiom…
From ACM News
Dealing With an Identity Hijacked on the Online Highway
Despite his prominent position as a Republican candidate for president, Rick Santorum has lost control of his online identity. And for all the snickering online about it, his predicament stands as a chilling example of what…
From ACM Careers
'big Data' Means Business Needs Mathematicians
The proliferation of ways to measure things—point-of-service terminals, Web analytics, geographic and temporal records, even semantic information—means businesses are drowning in data. This has led to a new class of engineer…
From ACM News
Idaho Laboratory Analyzed Stuxnet Computer Virus
Behind the doors of a nondescript red brick and gray building of the Idaho National Laboratory is the malware laboratory where government cyber experts analyzed the Stuxnet computer virus.
From ACM TechNews
Brain Imaging Reveals What You're Watching
University of California, Berkeley researchers have developed an algorithm that can be applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) imagery to show a moving image a person is seeing. The study marks the first time…
From ACM TechNews
Rat Cyborg Gets Digital Cerebellum
Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a synthetic cerebellum that can receive sensor inputs from the brainstem, interpret neuronal information, and send signals to other regions of the brainstem to prompt motor neurons…
From ACM News
In China, Business Travelers Take Extreme Precautions to Avoid Cyber-Espionage
Packing for business in China? Bring your passport and business cards, but maybe not that laptop loaded with contacts and corporate memos.
From ACM News
Autonomous Flying Robots Flock Like Birds
At Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale’s Laboratory of Intelligence Systems in Lausanne, Sabine Hauert and Dario Floreano have found a way to make small, fixed-wing machines fly together, migrate and avoid crashing. The swarms can…
From ACM TechNews
Authenticity of Web Pages nder Attack By Hackers
The underlying security of the Internet is under attack, and security professionals have become very concerned about their ability to protect users' most sensitive personal information, such as account logons and credit card…
From ACM TechNews
Data Mining For Global Change: Furthering Science, Knowledge
University of Minnesota's Vipin Kumar and colleagues want to integrate computer scientists into the effort to address climate change, ecosystem health, and global sustainability.
From ACM TechNews
A Made-to-Measure Social Network For the Academic World
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne researchers have developed Graaasp, an academic social network that responds to the specific needs of the academic world concerning project management and knowledge sharing.
From ACM TechNews
Python Bindings Snake Into Global Arrays Toolkit
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers have expanded the Global Arrays Toolkit to include full support for the Python computer programming language.
From ACM TechNews
E-Voting Gets Almost nanimous Praise, Study Finds
A recent Delvinia report could lead to the introduction of Internet voting across all levels of government in Canada.
From ACM News
Will Super Wi-Fi Live p to Its Name?
It's likely that a few years from now, Americans' laptops, smart phones, and other wireless devices will be able to get online using "Super Wi-Fi," a new standard that will increase capacity in places where regular Wi-Fi networks…
From ACM News
There Is Life on Mars! Just One Catch
NASA's Planetary Protection Officer Catharine A. Conley says that we've already contaminated the Red Planet with organisms from Earth.
From ACM News
Is Quantum Computing Real?
The answer is yes and no. And yes and yes. And no and no.
From ACM Opinion
The 'worm' That Could Bring Down the Internet
For the past three years, a highly encrypted computer worm called Conficker has been spreading rapidly around the world. As many as 12 million computers have been infected with the self-updating worm, a type of malware that…
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputer Readies For Action
Yale University recently received the Bulldog O Omega supercomputer from an undisclosed government agency, and it is now almost ready for use by university researchers.
From ACM TechNews
Software Developer Shows Face-Swapping in Realtime
New software can now replace a face with another in real time.
From ACM TechNews
Ping-Pong With Electrons
A surface acoustic wave has enabled scientists at the University of Cambridge to gain greater control over how electrons move from one place to another.
From ACM TechNews
Steve Lionel on Why Fortran Still Matters
For Intel technical staff member Steve Lionel there is no question about the continued relevance of the 54-year-old Fortran programming language.