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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.


Are We Alone in the ­niverse?
From ACM News

Are We Alone in the ­niverse?

Say goodbye to ET, Marvin the Martian and Yoda. Humans are probably the only intelligent life in the universe, researchers from the University of Oxford have reported...

NASA Asks: Will We Know Life When We See It?
From ACM News

NASA Asks: Will We Know Life When We See It?

In the last decade, we have discovered thousands of planets outside our solar system and have learned that rocky, temperate worlds are numerous in our galaxy.

A ­.S. Machine Recaptures the Supercomputing Crown
From ACM News

A ­.S. Machine Recaptures the Supercomputing Crown

Today, U.S. supercomputer advocates are cheering, because for the first time since 2012, a U.S. supercomputer—Oak Ridge National Laboratory's newly installed ...

Adobe Is Using AI to Catch Photoshopped Images
From ACM News

Adobe Is Using AI to Catch Photoshopped Images

While picture editors have tweaked images for decades, modern tools like Adobe Photoshop let them alter photos to the point of complete fabrication.

Team's E-Whiskers May Be a Touchstone for Future of Electronic Skin
From ACM TechNews

Team's E-Whiskers May Be a Touchstone for Future of Electronic Skin

A new variety of electronic sensor made from shape-memory polymers was modeled after whiskers.

Faster Analysis of Medical Images
From ACM TechNews

Faster Analysis of Medical Images

A new machine learning algorithm can register brain scans and other three-dimensional images about 1,000 times faster than previously possible using novel learning...

Japan's Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Creeps ­p on the Ryugu Asteroid
From ACM News

Japan's Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Creeps ­p on the Ryugu Asteroid

Here's the mission for Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft in a nutshell: Fly to a carbon-rich asteroid between the orbits of Earth and Mars, study it for a year and a...

Bringing the Internet to the (Developing) World
From Communications of the ACM

Bringing the Internet to the (Developing) World

A growing number of low-cost (and free!) solutions aim to open the Internet to developing regions.

You've Got Mail!
From Communications of the ACM

You've Got Mail!

And that's not all. Email is not what it used to be.

Why Cryptocurrencies Use So Much Energy
From Communications of the ACM

Why Cryptocurrencies Use So Much Energy

The electricity consumption of mining for cryptocurrencies is becoming a real concern. Here's what to do about it.

4 Tweets Can Reveal the Identity of an Anonymous Troll
From ACM TechNews

4 Tweets Can Reveal the Identity of an Anonymous Troll

Four geotagged posts are sufficient to identify an anonymous account from a telephone company's database of customers.

The Supreme Court Takes On the Police Use of Cellphone Records
From ACM News

The Supreme Court Takes On the Police Use of Cellphone Records

The Supreme Court has handed down what may be the most important privacy case of the digital era, ruling on Friday that the government cannot force cellphone service...

Pain Is Weird. Making Bionic Arms Feel Pain Is Even Weirder
From ACM News

Pain Is Weird. Making Bionic Arms Feel Pain Is Even Weirder

Pain is an indispensable tool for survival.

MIT Engineers Build Smart Power Outlet
From ACM TechNews

MIT Engineers Build Smart Power Outlet

A new smart power outlet can analyze electrical current usage from single or multiple outlets.

'E-Dermis' Brings Sense of Touch, Pain to Prosthetic Hands
From ACM TechNews

'E-Dermis' Brings Sense of Touch, Pain to Prosthetic Hands

A team of engineers has created an electronic skin that, when layered on top of prosthetic hands, provides a real sense of touch through the fingertips.

Finally, a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Will Ever Be Able to Solve
From ACM News

Finally, a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Will Ever Be Able to Solve

Early on in the study of quantum computers, computer scientists posed a question whose answer, they knew, would reveal something deep about the power of these futuristic...

How to Control Robots with Brainwaves and Hand Gestures
From ACM News

How to Control Robots with Brainwaves and Hand Gestures

Getting robots to do things isn't easy: Usually, scientists have to either explicitly program them or get them to understand how humans communicate via language...

Martian Dust Storm Grows Global; Curiosity Captures Photos of Thickening Haze
From ACM News

Martian Dust Storm Grows Global; Curiosity Captures Photos of Thickening Haze

A storm of tiny dust particles has engulfed much of Mars over the last two weeks and prompted NASA's Opportunity rover to suspend science operations.

Microsoft Opens Access to Sensor Data on the HoloLens With 'Research Mode' Update
From ACM TechNews

Microsoft Opens Access to Sensor Data on the HoloLens With 'Research Mode' Update

Microsoft has added a research mode to its HoloLens mixed-reality smartglasses so researchers and developers can access a broader spectrum of sensor-captured data...

 Smart Thermometers Improve Flu Forecasting
From ACM News

Smart Thermometers Improve Flu Forecasting

Connecting electronic thermometers to smartphones permits the capture of instant, anonymized fever readings as leading indicators of influenza outbreaks.
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