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subjectPerformance And Reliability
authorMIT News
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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


In One Aspect of Vision, Computers Catch ­p to Primate Brain
From ACM TechNews

In One Aspect of Vision, Computers Catch ­p to Primate Brain

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have found the most recent version of deep neural networks match the primate brain. 

New Way to Turn Genes On
From ACM News

New Way to Turn Genes On

Using a gene-editing system originally developed to delete specific genes, MIT researchers have now shown that they can reliably turn on any gene of their choosing...

More-Flexible Digital Communication
From ACM TechNews

More-Flexible Digital Communication

Researchers say they have begun to describe theoretical limits on the degree of imprecision that communicating computers can tolerate. 

Detecting Gases Wirelessly and Cheaply
From ACM News

Detecting Gases Wirelessly and Cheaply

MIT chemists have devised a new way to wirelessly detect hazardous gases and environmental pollutants, using a simple sensor that can be read by a smartphone.

New Device Could Make Large Biological Circuits Practical
From ACM TechNews

New Device Could Make Large Biological Circuits Practical

Researchers have developed a new kind of load driver that could enable biological circuits to behave almost as predictably as electronic circuits. 

Harnessing Error-Prone Chips
From ACM TechNews

Harnessing Error-Prone Chips

Chisel is a new system that lets programmers identify sections of their code that can tolerate small errors.

Superconducting Circuits, Simplified
From ACM TechNews

Superconducting Circuits, Simplified

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a nanocryotron , a computing circuit based on the cryotron.

Solid Nanoparticles Can Deform Like a Liquid
From ACM News

Solid Nanoparticles Can Deform Like a Liquid

A surprising phenomenon has been found in metal nanoparticles: They appear, from the outside, to be liquid droplets, wobbling and readily changing shape, while...

Fingertip Sensor Gives Robot ­nprecedented Dexterity
From ACM TechNews

Fingertip Sensor Gives Robot ­nprecedented Dexterity

Researchers have developed a robot equipped with tactile sensors that enable it to grasp a USB cable draped over a hook and insert it into a USB port. 

Will Tomorrow's Robots Move Like Snakes?
From ACM TechNews

Will Tomorrow's Robots Move Like Snakes?

Researchers have developed a soft robotic arm, inspired by octopus tentacles, that can snake through a pipelike environment without a human operator. 

Bound for Robotic Glory
From ACM TechNews

Bound for Robotic Glory

Massachusetts Institute of Technology  researchers have developed an algorithm for bounding, and successfully implemented it in a robotic cheetah. 

Where to Grab Space Debris
From ACM TechNews

Where to Grab Space Debris

A new algorithm can be used to gauge the rotation of objects in zero gravity using only visual information. 

Where to Grab Space Debris
From ACM News

Where to Grab Space Debris

Objects in space tend to spin—and spin in a way that's totally different from the way they spin on earth.

Manual Control
From ACM TechNews

Manual Control

Mezzanine is a collaborative-conferencing system that enables multiple users to share and control digital content from any device using gesture controls. 

Origami Robot Folds Itself ­p, Crawls Away
From ACM News

Origami Robot Folds Itself ­p, Crawls Away

For years, a team of researchers at MIT and Harvard University has been working on origami robots—reconfigurable robots that would be able to fold themselves into...

Squishy Robots
From ACM TechNews

Squishy Robots

A new phase-change material built from wax and foam, that is capable of switching between hard and soft states, could be used to construct inexpensive robots. 

Drone Lighting: Autonomous Vehicles Could Automatically Assume the Right Positions for Photographic Lighting
From ACM TechNews

Drone Lighting: Autonomous Vehicles Could Automatically Assume the Right Positions for Photographic Lighting

A team of researchers is developing algorithms to let photographers use camera-mounted controls to guide drone-mounted lights into just the right position. 

Harnessing the Speed of Light
From ACM Opinion

Harnessing the Speed of Light

The fields of data communication, fabrication, and ultrasound imaging share a common challenge when it comes to improving speed and efficiency: light's diffraction...

Traffic Lights: There's a Better Way
From ACM TechNews

Traffic Lights: There's a Better Way

A new means of computing the optimal timings for city stoplights can significantly reduce drivers' average travel times. 

Collaborative Learning--For Robots
From ACM TechNews

Collaborative Learning--For Robots

A new algorithm enables independent agents to collaborate on a machine-learning model without aggregating data. 
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