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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.


Don't Use the Force, Luke, Use the Targeting Computer
From ACM News

Don't Use the Force, Luke, Use the Targeting Computer

Remember when Luke's running the trench in the Death Star, and he's about to fire his fateful shot, and at the last minute he decides to turn off the targeting...

Melding Mind and Machine: How Close Are We?
From ACM Opinion

Melding Mind and Machine: How Close Are We?

Just as ancient Greeks fantasized about soaring flight, today's imaginations dream of melding minds and machines as a remedy to the pesky problem of human mortality...

The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI
From ACM News

The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI

Last year, a strange self-driving car was released onto the quiet roads of Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Mobile-Phone Signals Bolster Street-Level Rain Forecasts
From ACM News

Mobile-Phone Signals Bolster Street-Level Rain Forecasts

Meteorologists have long struggled to forecast storms and flooding at the level of streets and neighborhoods, but they may soon make headway thanks to the spread...

Canada Tries to Turn Its A.i. Ideas Into Dollars
From ACM Careers

Canada Tries to Turn Its A.i. Ideas Into Dollars

Long before Google started working on cars that drive themselves and Amazon was creating home appliances that talk, a handful of researchers in Canada—backed by...

Quantum Computing Is Going Commercial with the Potential to Disrupt Everything
From ACM News

Quantum Computing Is Going Commercial with the Potential to Disrupt Everything

Consider three hair-pulling problems: 1 percent of the world's energy is used every year just to produce fertilizer; solar panels aren't powerful enough to provide...

Science Reveals Yet Another Reason Octopuses and Squid Are So Weird
From ACM News

Science Reveals Yet Another Reason Octopuses and Squid Are So Weird

Octopuses are aliens living on Earth.

How Artificial Life Spawned a Billion-Dollar Industry
From ACM News

How Artificial Life Spawned a Billion-Dollar Industry

Scientists are getting closer to building life from scratch and technology pioneers are taking notice, with record sums moving into a field that could deliver novel...

Machine Learning Predicts the Look of STEM Cells
From ACM News

Machine Learning Predicts the Look of STEM Cells

No two stem cells are identical, even if they are genetic clones.

The Diy Electronics Transforming Research
From ACM Careers

The Diy Electronics Transforming Research

A research subject watches a brush slowly stroking a rubber hand on a table in front of her, while her own hand—hidden from view—experiences the same stimulation...

Nasa's Cassini Mission Prepares For 'grand Finale' at Saturn
From ACM News

Nasa's Cassini Mission Prepares For 'grand Finale' at Saturn

NASA's Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn since 2004, is about to begin the final chapter of its remarkable story.

Building an AI Chip Saved Google From Building a Dozen New Data Centers
From ACM News

Building an AI Chip Saved Google From Building a Dozen New Data Centers

Google operates what is surely the largest computer network on Earth, a system that comprises custom-built, warehouse-sized data centers spanning 15 locations in...

With New Technology, Mathematicians Turn Numbers Into art
From ACM Opinion

With New Technology, Mathematicians Turn Numbers Into art

Once upon a time, mathematicians imagined their job was to discover new mathematics and then let others explain it.

Learning to Think Like a Computer
From ACM News

Learning to Think Like a Computer

In "The Beauty and Joy of Computing," the course he helped conceive for nonmajors at the University of California, Berkeley, Daniel Garcia explains an all-important...

New Horizons Halfway from Pluto to Next Flyby Target
From ACM News

New Horizons Halfway from Pluto to Next Flyby Target

Continuing on its path through the outer regions of the solar system, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has now traveled half the distance from Pluto—its storied first...

The Founding Fathers Encrypted Secret Messages, Too
From ACM News

The Founding Fathers Encrypted Secret Messages, Too

Thomas Jefferson is known for a lot of things—writing the Declaration of Independence, founding the University of Virginia, owning hundreds of slaves despite believing...

Synthetic Humans Help Computers Understand How Real People Act
From ACM News

Synthetic Humans Help Computers Understand How Real People Act

We are difficult for computers to understand.

Vector Institute Is Just the Latest in Canada's AI Expansion
From ACM News

Vector Institute Is Just the Latest in Canada's AI Expansion

Canadian researchers have been behind some recent major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. Now, the country is betting on becoming a big player in one of...

Ghost in the Sell: Hollywood's Mischievous Vision of AI
From ACM Opinion

Ghost in the Sell: Hollywood's Mischievous Vision of AI

Watch enough science fiction movies and you'll probably come to the conclusion that humans are living on borrowed time.

A Stunning Video of Mars That Took Three Months to Stitch Together, By Hand
From ACM News

A Stunning Video of Mars That Took Three Months to Stitch Together, By Hand

If you should one day find yourself in a spacecraft circling Mars, don't count on a good view.
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