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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.


The Philae Comet Lander Might Have Enough Power to Wake Up
From ACM News

The Philae Comet Lander Might Have Enough Power to Wake Up

In November, a spacecraft made a dramatic, first-ever landing on a comet—three times.

Spacecraft Data Suggest Saturn Moon's Ocean May Harbor Hydrothermal Activity
From ACM News

Spacecraft Data Suggest Saturn Moon's Ocean May Harbor Hydrothermal Activity

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first clear evidence that Saturn's moon Enceladus exhibits signs of present-day hydrothermal activity which...

Pre-Crime Software Recruited to Track Gang of Thieves
From ACM News

Pre-Crime Software Recruited to Track Gang of Thieves

They always choose the line at the bank farthest from CCTV—that's how the Felony Lane Gang got its name.

Finding Out What the Past Smelled Like
From ACM Opinion

Finding Out What the Past Smelled Like

It was the smell that hit me first, a heady mixture of roasting meat, woodsmoke, and farmyard manure.

Dna Mutation Clock Proves Tough to Set
From ACM News

Dna Mutation Clock Proves Tough to Set

Mathematicians keep refining π even though they know it to more than 12 trillion digits; physicists beat themselves up because they cannot pin down the gravitational...

Pluto-Bound Probe Tweaks Its Trajectory
From ACM News

Pluto-Bound Probe Tweaks Its Trajectory

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft fine-tuned its path toward Pluto on Tuesday, firing its rocket thrusters for 93 seconds to aim for a fleeting flyby of the distant...

Silicon Valley Debate on Self-Driving Cars: Do You Need a Map?
From ACM News

Silicon Valley Debate on Self-Driving Cars: Do You Need a Map?

The Silicon Valley race to build a self-driving car may revolve around one simple question: to map or not to map.

The Real Star Wars: Air Force Heads to the Heavens For Weapons Guidance
From ACM News

The Real Star Wars: Air Force Heads to the Heavens For Weapons Guidance

The success of precision-guided bombs in 1991’s Gulf War was a revelation.

Mistrust and Meddling ­nsettles ­.s. Science Agency
From ACM Careers

Mistrust and Meddling ­nsettles ­.s. Science Agency

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has had a tough couple of years.

Quantum Sensor's Advantages Survive Entanglement Breakdown
From ACM TechNews

Quantum Sensor's Advantages Survive Entanglement Breakdown

MIT researchers have demonstrated that entanglement can improve the performance of optical sensors, even when it does not survive light's interaction with the environment...

If an Algorithm Wrote This, How Would You Even Know?
From ACM Opinion

If an Algorithm Wrote This, How Would You Even Know?

Let me hazard a guess that you think a real person has written what you're reading. Maybe you're right. Maybe not.

Do You Only Trust Wall-E Because He's Cute?
From ACM News

Do You Only Trust Wall-E Because He's Cute?

Each year it seems a little less like science fiction to ask your phone for advice about local chinese food or trust your car to get you to a new location.

Mediators Call For Change to Science of Human Brain Project
From ACM News

Mediators Call For Change to Science of Human Brain Project

Mediators appointed to analyse the rifts within Europe’s ambitious €1-billion (US$1.1 billion) Human Brain Project (HBP) have called for far-reaching changes both...

Use of Rover Arm Expected to Resume in a Few Days
From ACM News

Use of Rover Arm Expected to Resume in a Few Days

Managers of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission expect to approve resumption of rover arm movements as early as next week while continuing analysis of what appears...

Silicon Valley Is Trying to Make Humans Immortal—and Finding Some Success
From ACM News

Silicon Valley Is Trying to Make Humans Immortal—and Finding Some Success

Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, plans to live to be 120. Compared with some other tech billionaires, he doesn't seem particularly ambitious.

Google Ventures and the Search For Immortality
From ACM Careers

Google Ventures and the Search For Immortality

"If you ask me today, is it possible to live to be 500? The answer is yes," Bill Maris says one January afternoon in Mountain View, California.

To Digitize a Brain, First Slice 2,000 Times with a Very Sharp Blade
From ACM News

To Digitize a Brain, First Slice 2,000 Times with a Very Sharp Blade

As I stepped into the Brain Observatory, I didn't really see what I expected from a brain bank.

Engineering the Perfect Baby
From ACM News

Engineering the Perfect Baby

If anyone had devised a way to create a genetically engineered baby, I figured George Church would know about it.

Dig This: I Operated a Giant Excavator from 2,500km Away
From ACM News

Dig This: I Operated a Giant Excavator from 2,500km Away

Thanks to Ericsson, I can check off operating heavy machinery from my bucket list.

To Bring Virtual Reality to Market, Furious Efforts to Solve Nausea
From ACM News

To Bring Virtual Reality to Market, Furious Efforts to Solve Nausea

Few technologies have generated more attention than virtual reality, which promises to immerse people in 3-D games and video.
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