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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.


Chips Off the Old block: Computers Are Taking Design Cues from Human Brains
From ACM News

Chips Off the Old block: Computers Are Taking Design Cues from Human Brains

We expect a lot from our computers these days. They should talk to us, recognize everything from faces to flowers, and maybe soon do the driving.

Conservatives, Liberals ­nite Against Silicon Valley
From ACM Careers

Conservatives, Liberals ­nite Against Silicon Valley

The days of unqualified praise from Washington are over for the country's biggest tech companies, whose size and power are increasingly drawing attacks from both...

Back to Saturn? Five Missions Proposed to Follow Cassini
From ACM News

Back to Saturn? Five Missions Proposed to Follow Cassini

For 13 years, NASA's Cassini spacecraft sent back captivating observations of Saturn, and its rings and moons, solving some mysteries but raising plenty of new...

Wanna Stop Distracted Driving? Make Cars That Watch Their Humans
From ACM News

Wanna Stop Distracted Driving? Make Cars That Watch Their Humans

Everyone knows that distracted driving is a problem, but it tends to fall in the "other people/not me" category of personal risk assessment among drivers.

Robot Made from a Dna Strand Could Deliver Cargo in Your Blood
From ACM News

Robot Made from a Dna Strand Could Deliver Cargo in Your Blood

You won't read about a smaller robot than this one any time soon. It consists of just a single strand of DNA, and moves by taking tiny 6-nanometre steps—around...

Brain-Machine Interface Isn't Sci-Fi Anymore
From ACM News

Brain-Machine Interface Isn't Sci-Fi Anymore

Thomas Reardon puts a terrycloth stretch band with microchips and electrodes woven into the fabric—a steampunk version of jewelry—on each of his forearms.   ...

Treating Cancer, Stopping Violence . . . How AI Protects US
From ACM News

Treating Cancer, Stopping Violence . . . How AI Protects US

For some, the spread of artificial intelligence and robotics poses a threat to our privacy, our jobs – even our safety, as more and more tasks are handed over to...

Cassini Crashes Into Saturn but Could Still Deliver Big Discoveries
From ACM News

Cassini Crashes Into Saturn but Could Still Deliver Big Discoveries

At 4:55 a.m. California time on 15 September, hundreds of scientists watched their life's work go up in flames.

U.s. Moves to Ban Kaspersky Software in Federal Agencies Amid Concerns of Russian Espionage
From ACM News

U.s. Moves to Ban Kaspersky Software in Federal Agencies Amid Concerns of Russian Espionage

The U.S. government on Wednesday moved to ban the use of a Russian brand of security software by federal agencies amid concerns the company has ties to state-sponsored...

Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn
From ACM News

Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is on final approach to Saturn, following confirmation by mission navigators that it is on course to dive into the planet's atmosphere...

Global Fingerprints of Sea-Level Rise Revealed By Satellites
From ACM News

Global Fingerprints of Sea-Level Rise Revealed By Satellites

As an ice sheet melts, it leaves a unique signature behind. Complex geological processes distribute the meltwater in a distinct pattern, or 'fingerprint', thatthese...

How Apple Is Bringing US Into the Age of Facial Recognition Whether We're Ready or Not
From ACM News

How Apple Is Bringing US Into the Age of Facial Recognition Whether We're Ready or Not

A whiff of dystopian creepiness has long wafted in the air whenever facial recognition has come up. Books, movies and television shows have portrayed the technology...

High-Speed Quantum Memory For Photons
From ACM TechNews

High-Speed Quantum Memory For Photons

A new memory technology can store photons in a rubidium atomic vapor and read them out again later without significantly altering their quantum mechanical properties...

Why Google's AI Can Write Beautiful Songs but Still Can't Tell a Joke
From ACM Opinion

Why Google's AI Can Write Beautiful Songs but Still Can't Tell a Joke

Creating noodling piano tunes and endless configurations of cat drawings with AI may not sound like an obvious project for Google, but it makes a lot of sense to...

Operational Limits Played Key Role in Tesla Crash on Autopilot: Ntsb
From ACM News

Operational Limits Played Key Role in Tesla Crash on Autopilot: Ntsb

The chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Tuesday "operational limitations" in the Tesla Model S played a "major role" in a May...

Cassini Makes Its 'goodbye Kiss' Flyby of Titan
From ACM News

Cassini Makes Its 'goodbye Kiss' Flyby of Titan

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is headed toward its Sept. 15 plunge into Saturn, following a final, distant flyby of the planet's giant moon Titan.

As Amazon Pushes Forward With Robots, Workers Find New Roles
From ACM News

As Amazon Pushes Forward With Robots, Workers Find New Roles

Nissa Scott started working at the cavernous Amazon warehouse in southern New Jersey late last year, stacking plastic bins the size of small ottomans.

In the Future, Warehouse Robots Will Learn on Their Own
From ACM News

In the Future, Warehouse Robots Will Learn on Their Own

The robot was perched over a bin filled with random objects, from a box of instant oatmeal to a small toy shark.

Geneticists Pan Paper that Claims to Predict a Person's Face from Their Dna
From ACM News

Geneticists Pan Paper that Claims to Predict a Person's Face from Their Dna

A storm of criticism has rained down on a paper by genome-sequencing pioneer Craig Venter that claims to predict people's physical traits from their DNA.

Planet 9 Is Not a Stolen Exoplanet, So What Is It?
From ACM News

Planet 9 Is Not a Stolen Exoplanet, So What Is It?

Scientists believe there may be a huge planet sitting at the far reaches of the solar system. Since new evidence of Planet 9's existence emerged a few years ago...
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