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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.


Astronomers Detect Light from the ­niverse's First Stars
From ACM News

Astronomers Detect Light from the ­niverse's First Stars

Astronomers have for the first time spotted long-sought signals of light from the earliest stars ever to form in the Universe—around 180 million years after the...

Enigma: Up Close with a Nazi Cipher Machine
From ACM News

Enigma: Up Close with a Nazi Cipher Machine

A black metal mechanical device resembling a typewriter sits in a wooden box.

How Flashing Lights and Pink Noise Might Banish Alzheimer's, Improve Memory and More
From ACM News

How Flashing Lights and Pink Noise Might Banish Alzheimer's, Improve Memory and More

In March 2015, Li-Huei Tsai set up a tiny disco for some of the mice in her laboratory. For an hour each day, she placed them in a box lit only by a flickering...

Curiosity Tests a New Way to Drill on Mars
From ACM News

Curiosity Tests a New Way to Drill on Mars

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has conducted the first test of a new drilling technique on the Red Planet since its drill stopped working reliably.

Hacker-Resistant Power Plant Software Shows Real-World Results in Hawaii
From ACM TechNews

Hacker-Resistant Power Plant Software Shows Real-World Results in Hawaii

Researchers have developed an open source, intrusion-tolerant control system designed to keep power flowing even if part of the grid is compromised.

Tribal Broadband
From ACM News

Tribal Broadband

Some Native American nations are betting their futures on the construction of broadband networks.

China's Internet ­nderground Fights for Its Life
From ACM News

China's Internet ­nderground Fights for Its Life

For years, thousands of virtual private networks (VPNs) have allowed people in China to circumvent restrictions on internet access and visit Facebook, Google, YouTube...

If There's Life on Saturn's Moon Enceladus, It Might Look Like This
From ACM News

If There's Life on Saturn's Moon Enceladus, It Might Look Like This

Saturn's moon Enceladus has become an alien-hunting hot spot, and not just for the tinfoil hat crowd.

Why ­.S. 'Cyber-Warriors' Can't Do Anything About Russian 'Cyber-Meddling'
From ACM News

Why ­.S. 'Cyber-Warriors' Can't Do Anything About Russian 'Cyber-Meddling'

In testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, National Security Agency Director and US Cyber Command Commander Admiral Michael Rogers told...

Justices Struggle with ­.S. Demands for Overseas Data
From ACM News

Justices Struggle with ­.S. Demands for Overseas Data

The Supreme Court appeared to be divided Tuesday as it struggled to interpret whether a three-decade-old federal law gives the U.S. government the right to access...

­ncovering the Secrets of the 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'
From ACM News

­ncovering the Secrets of the 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'

"How did the 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' come to life? What steps did Vermeer take to make this painting?"

How Did Life Begin? It's Chemistry 101, but in Space
From ACM News

How Did Life Begin? It's Chemistry 101, but in Space

How did life start? There may not be a bigger question.

Microsoft's Supreme Court Case Has Big Implications For Data
From ACM News

Microsoft's Supreme Court Case Has Big Implications For Data

Five years ago, US law enforcement served Microsoft a search warrant for emails as part of a US drug trafficking investigation. In response, Microsoft handed over...

Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears
From ACM News

Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears

When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese users' iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data center at the end of this month to comply with new laws there, Chinese authorities...

Forecasts of Genetic Fate Just Got a Lot More Accurate
From ACM News

Forecasts of Genetic Fate Just Got a Lot More Accurate

When Amit Khera explains how he predicts disease, the young cardiologist's hands touch the air, arranging imaginary columns of people: 30,000 who have suffered...

Seven Ways Mars InSight is Different
From ACM News

Seven Ways Mars InSight is Different

NASA's Mars InSight lander team is preparing to ship the spacecraft from Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, where it was built and tested, to Vandenberg Air Force...

Star Wars Robots Like R2-D2, C3PO Could Help You in Real Life
From ACM TechNews

Star Wars Robots Like R2-D2, C3PO Could Help You in Real Life

Texas A&M University professor Robin Murphy thinks robots such those featured in the "Star Wars" movies could have practical communicative applications.

AI Trained to Spot Heart Disease Risks ­sing Retina Scan
From ACM News

AI Trained to Spot Heart Disease Risks ­sing Retina Scan

The idea behind using a neural network for image recognition is that you don't have to tell it what to look for in an image.

The Myth of the Hacker-Proof Voting Machine
From ACM News

The Myth of the Hacker-Proof Voting Machine

In 2011, the election board in Pennsylvania's Venango County—a largely rural county in the northwest part of the state—asked David A. Eckhardt, a computer science...

Researchers Have Finally Created a Tool to Spot Duplicated Images Across Thousands of Papers
From ACM News

Researchers Have Finally Created a Tool to Spot Duplicated Images Across Thousands of Papers

Computer software can now quickly detect duplicate images across large swathes of the research literature, three scientists say.
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