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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.


That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think
From ACM News

That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think

Fingerprint sensors have turned modern smartphones into miracles of convenience.

Solar Storms Can Drain Electrical Charge Above Earth
From ACM News

Solar Storms Can Drain Electrical Charge Above Earth

New research on solar storms finds that they not only can cause regions of excessive electrical charge in the upper atmosphere above Earth's poles, they also can...

DARPA Will Bake Cybersecurity Into Circuits
From ACM TechNews

DARPA Will Bake Cybersecurity Into Circuits

DARPA this month plans to detail its System Security Integrated Through Hardware and Firmware program, with the goal of developing new integrated circuit architectures...

A Lizard With Scales That Behave Like a Computer Simulation
From ACM News

A Lizard With Scales That Behave Like a Computer Simulation

The ocellated lizard—known as the jeweled lacerta in the pet trade—is born rusty brown with white polka dots.

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...

'we All Love the Tomahawk:' A Brief History of ­.s.'s Favorite Robotic Killer
From ACM News

'we All Love the Tomahawk:' A Brief History of ­.s.'s Favorite Robotic Killer

In the early hours of Friday morning, two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea launched a barrage of Tomahawk Land...

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.

23andme Given Green Light to Sell Dna Tests For 10 Diseases
From ACM News

23andme Given Green Light to Sell Dna Tests For 10 Diseases

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first at-home genetic test that can help to determine a person's risk of developing certain diseases....

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...

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

Synthetic Humans Help Computers Understand How Real People Act

Researchers are working to help computers understand human behavior by feeding them videos and images of computer-generated bodies in motion

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.
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