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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.


Google Researchers Are Learning How Machines Learn
From ACM News

Google Researchers Are Learning How Machines Learn

Machines are starting to learn tasks on their own. They are identifying faces, recognizing spoken words, reading medical scans and even carrying on their own conversations...

Wanna See Around Corners? Better Get Yourself a Laser
From ACM News

Wanna See Around Corners? Better Get Yourself a Laser

You can't see the bunny, but the picosecond laser certainly can.

Latest ­S Weather Satellite Highlights Forecasting Challenges
From ACM News

Latest ­S Weather Satellite Highlights Forecasting Challenges

The United States filled a crucial gap in its weather-forecasting arsenal when it launched its latest geostationary satellite on 1 March. The craft will enable...

JILA Team Invents New Way to 'See' the Quantum World
From ACM TechNews

JILA Team Invents New Way to 'See' the Quantum World

A new imaging technique produces rapid, precise measurements of quantum behavior in an atomic clock as visual art.

AI's Dirty Little Secret: It's Powered by People
From ACM News

AI's Dirty Little Secret: It's Powered by People

There's a dirty little secret about artificial intelligence: It's powered by hundreds of thousands of real people.

The Decentralized Internet Is Here, With Some Glitches
From ACM News

The Decentralized Internet Is Here, With Some Glitches

I usually write in Google's online word processor Google Docs, even when noting the company's shortcomings.

These Provocative Images Show Russian Trolls Sought to Inflame Debate Over Climate Change, Fracking and Dakota Pipeline
From ACM News

These Provocative Images Show Russian Trolls Sought to Inflame Debate Over Climate Change, Fracking and Dakota Pipeline

Russian trolls used Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to inflame U.S. political debate over energy policy and climate change, a finding that underscores how the Russian...

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?
From ACM News

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?

In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to...

Spoof, Jam, Destroy: Why We Need a Backup for GPS
From ACM News

Spoof, Jam, Destroy: Why We Need a Backup for GPS

Earth got a warning shot on January 25, 2016. On that day, Air Force engineers were scheduled to kill off a GPS satellite named SVN-23—the oldest in the navigation...

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.

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...

Augmented Reality Takes 3D Printing to Next Level
From ACM TechNews

Augmented Reality Takes 3D Printing to Next Level

Researchers are using augmented reality to advance three-dimensional printing and three-dimensional modeling technologies

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.
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