Communications of the ACM
A Healthy Dose of AI
Building artificial intelligence into medical devices can speed diagnoses and potentially improve treatments and outcomes.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
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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...
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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.
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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...
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Smarter Caching
Computer chips keep getting faster because transistors keep getting smaller.
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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New System Allows For High-Accuracy, Through-Wall, 3D Motion Tracking
Imagine playing a video game like Call of Duty or Battlefield and having the ability to lead your virtual army unit while moving freely throughout your house.
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3-D Images, With Only One Photon Per Pixel
Lidar rangefinders, which are common tools in surveying and in autonomous-vehicle control, among other applications, gauge depth by emitting short bursts of laser...
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'wise Chisels': Art, Craftsmanship, and Power Tools
It's often easy to tell at a glance the difference between a mass-produced object and one that has been handcrafted: The handmade item is likely to have distinctive...
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MIT Big Data Initiative Launches Transportation Challenge, Privacy Working Group
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab's Big Data Initiative recently announced two new activities aimed at...
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How to Program Unreliable Chips
As transistors get smaller, they also become less reliable.
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Making Martian Clouds on Earth
At first glance, Mars' clouds might easily be mistaken for those on Earth: Images of the Martian sky, taken by NASA's Opportunity rover, depict gauzy, high-altitude...
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New Kind of Microscope Uses Neutrons
Researchers at MIT, working with partners at NASA, have developed a new concept for a microscope that would use neutrons—subatomic particles with no electrical...
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Bringing 'common Sense' to Text Analytics
Bringing "common sense" to artificial intelligence is one of the biggest challenges in computer science: It entails equipping computers with the shared knowledge...
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Artificial-Intelligence Research Revives Its Old Ambitions
The birth of artificial-intelligence research as an autonomous discipline is generally thought to have been the monthlong Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial...
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Terramechanics Research Aims to Keep Mars Rovers Rolling
In May 2009, the Mars rover Spirit cracked through a crusty layer of Martian topsoil, sinking into softer underlying sand.
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Neuroscientists Plant False Memories in the Brain
The phenomenon of false memory has been well-documented: In many court cases, defendants have been found guilty based on testimony from witnesses and victims who...
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