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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.


More Than an Auto-Pilot, AI Charts Its Course in Aviation
From ACM News

More Than an Auto-Pilot, AI Charts Its Course in Aviation

Ask anyone what they think of when the words "artificial intelligence" and aviation are combined, and it's likely the first things they'll mention are drones.

The 'Camera That Saved Hubble' Turns 25
From ACM News

The 'Camera That Saved Hubble' Turns 25

Twenty-five years ago this week, NASA held its collective breath as seven astronauts on space shuttle Endeavour caught up with the Hubble Space Telescope 353 miles...

Facial Gestures Can Move This AI-Motorized Wheelchair
From ACM TechNews

Facial Gestures Can Move This AI-Motorized Wheelchair

A new prototype kit exploits artificial intelligence to enable a disabled person to drive a motorized wheelchair using facial expressions.

Inside Sellafield's Death Zone With the Nuclear Clean-­p Robots
From ACM TechNews

Inside Sellafield's Death Zone With the Nuclear Clean-­p Robots

The defunct Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria in the U.K. is a toxic environment that must be cleaned up by robots.

These Dusty Young Stars Are Changing the Rules of Planet-Building
From ACM News

These Dusty Young Stars Are Changing the Rules of Planet-Building

Some 100,000 years ago, when Neanderthals still occupied the caves of southern Europe, a star was born.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu
From ACM News

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu

NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft completed its 1.2 billion-mile (2 billion-kilometer)...

All the Light There Is to See? 4 x 10⁸⁴ Photons
From ACM News

All the Light There Is to See? 4 x 10⁸⁴ Photons

In one of those exercises that you think should be impossible or perhaps a punishment for some infraction, a team of astronomers has now measured the total amount...

Amazon Sets About Speeding ­p Space Data Processing in the Cloud With AWS Ground Stations
From ACM TechNews

Amazon Sets About Speeding ­p Space Data Processing in the Cloud With AWS Ground Stations

Amazon Web Services is creating a managed network of ground stations to boost the efficiency of processing data from orbiting space satellites and moving it to...

The Drive Toward Self-Driving Food Delivery Vehicles
From ACM News

The Drive Toward Self-Driving Food Delivery Vehicles

Are pizza delivery guys destined to be so 20th century?

The Race Is On to Protect Data From the Next Leap in Computers. And China Has the Lead.
From ACM News

The Race Is On to Protect Data From the Next Leap in Computers. And China Has the Lead.

The world's leading technology companies, from Google to Alibaba in China, are racing to build the first quantum computer, a machine that would be far more powerful...

Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink
From ACM News

Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink

Stephanie LaMassa did a double take. She was staring at two images on her computer screen, both of the same object—except they looked nothing alike.

AI Robot CIMON Debuts at International Space Station
From ACM TechNews

AI Robot CIMON Debuts at International Space Station

The CIMON artificial intelligence robot aboard the International Space Station can engage verbally with the station's crew.

'Chemputer' Promises App-Controlled Revolution for Drug Production
From ACM TechNews

'Chemputer' Promises App-Controlled Revolution for Drug Production

A new technique for producing drug molecules uses downloadable blueprints to easily, reliably synthesize organic chemicals via a programmable computer.

Nailing Down the Nature of 'Oumuamua; It's Probably a Comet, but . . .
From ACM Opinion

Nailing Down the Nature of 'Oumuamua; It's Probably a Comet, but . . .

Shortly before Halloween, the chairman of Harvard's astronomy department openly declared that an interstellar object hurtling through our Solar System might just...

Smart Headlights Inch Closer to American Roads
From ACM TechNews

Smart Headlights Inch Closer to American Roads

Adaptive driving beam headlights are not currently permitted in the U.S., but that could soon change. 

Inside the Futuristic Restaurant Where a Robot Has Replaced the Bartender
From ACM TechNews

Inside the Futuristic Restaurant Where a Robot Has Replaced the Bartender

The Cyberdog wine bar in Prague, Czech Republic, is equipped with a robot bartender that serves drinks ordered via a smartphone app.

How Supercomputers Can Help Fix Our Wildfire Problem
From ACM News

How Supercomputers Can Help Fix Our Wildfire Problem

Fire is chaos. Fire doesn't care what it destroys or who it kills—it spreads without mercy, leaving total destruction in its wake, as California's Camp and Woolsey...

Asteroid-Sampling Mission Zeroes In on Tiny Space Rock
From ACM News

Asteroid-Sampling Mission Zeroes In on Tiny Space Rock

For the second time this year, a spacecraft is about to partner with an asteroid in an intimate dance.

Making AI Algorithms Crazy Fast ­sing Chips Powered by Light
From ACM News

Making AI Algorithms Crazy Fast ­sing Chips Powered by Light

Inside a small laboratory in Boston's seaport district, buried within a jumble of lasers, lenses, mirrors, and a tangle of wiring, is a tiny chip that might be...

Drones Offer Ability to Find, ID, and Count Marine Megafauna
From ACM TechNews

Drones Offer Ability to Find, ID, and Count Marine Megafauna

North Carolina State University researchers have demonstrated that consumer-grade drones can effectively monitor marine species across multiple sites in the wild...
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