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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.


Excitons Observed in Action for the First Time
From ACM News

Excitons Observed in Action for the First Time

A quasiparticle called an exciton—responsible for the transfer of energy within devices such as solar cells, LEDs, and semiconductor circuits—has been understood...

New 'switch' Could Power Quantum Computing
From ACM News

New 'switch' Could Power Quantum Computing

Using a laser to place individual rubidium atoms near the surface of a lattice of light, scientists at MIT and Harvard University have developed a new method for...

The Complexonaut
From ACM Opinion

The Complexonaut

When he was in elementary school, Scott Aaronson, like many mathematically precocious kids of his generation, dreamed of making his own video games.

Orienteering For Robots
From ACM News

Orienteering For Robots

Suppose you're trying to navigate an unfamiliar section of a big city, and you’re using a particular cluster of skyscrapers as a reference point.

Parallel Programming May Not Be So Daunting
From ACM TechNews

Parallel Programming May Not Be So Daunting

Researchers plan to demonstrate an analytics technique suggesting that, in a wide range of real-word scenarios, lock-free algorithms can provide wait-free performance...

Soft Robotic Fish Moves Like the Real Thing
From ACM TechNews

Soft Robotic Fish Moves Like the Real Thing

Researchers say they have created a robotic fish that is the first self-contained autonomous soft robot capable of rapid body motion. 

Soft Robotic Fish Moves Like the Real Thing
From ACM News

Soft Robotic Fish Moves Like the Real Thing

Soft robots—which don’t just have soft exteriors but are also powered by fluid flowing through flexible channels—have become a sufficiently popular research topic...

Social Physics
From ACM TechNews

Social Physics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab Human Dynamics Laboratory director Alex Pentland is working on a new theory of human social interaction. 

Self-Completing Programs
From ACM TechNews

Self-Completing Programs

The Sketch programming language enables programmers to leave out some coding details, with Sketch filling in the blanks. 

Self-Completing Programs
From ACM News

Self-Completing Programs

Since he was a graduate student, Armando Solar-Lezama, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been working...

Smarter Caching
From ACM News

Smarter Caching

Computer chips keep getting faster because transistors keep getting smaller.

Herding Robots
From ACM TechNews

Herding Robots

Researchers say they have developed a system that combines existing robotic control programs to enable multiagent systems to collaborate in complex ways. 

From ACM News

Herding Robots

Writing a program to control a single autonomous robot navigating an uncertain environment with an erratic communication link is hard enough; write one for multiple...

Bringing the World Reboot-Less ­pdates
From ACM TechNews

Bringing the World Reboot-Less ­pdates

The Ksplice software automatically applies patches to an operating system without having to reboot. 

Seeing Things: A New Transparent Display System Could Provide Heads-up Data
From ACM News

Seeing Things: A New Transparent Display System Could Provide Heads-up Data

Transparent displays have a variety of potential applications—such as the ability to see navigation or dashboard information while looking through the windshield...

Marvin Minsky Honored For Lifetime Achievements in Artificial Intelligence
From ACM News

Marvin Minsky Honored For Lifetime Achievements in Artificial Intelligence

MIT Media Lab professor emeritus Marvin Minsky, 86, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award...

New Algorithm Can Dramatically Streamline Solutions to the 'max Flow' Problem
From ACM News

New Algorithm Can Dramatically Streamline Solutions to the 'max Flow' Problem

Finding the most efficient way to transport items across a network like the U.S. highway system or the Internet is a problem that has taxed mathematicians and computer...

New Approach to Vertex Connectivity Could Maximize Networks' Bandwidth
From ACM TechNews

New Approach to Vertex Connectivity Could Maximize Networks' Bandwidth

Researchers say they have developed a technique for addressing vertex-connectivity problems. 

Graphene Can Host Exotic New Quantum Electronic States at Its Edges
From ACM TechNews

Graphene Can Host Exotic New Quantum Electronic States at Its Edges

Researchers have uncovered unexpected features of graphene that appear under extreme conditions, which could allow the material to be used for exotic applications...

Never Forget a Face
From ACM TechNews

Never Forget a Face

A new algorithm makes subtle changes to various points on a face to make it more memorable without changing the subject's overall appearance. 
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