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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.


An AI-Driven Robot Hand Spent a Hundred Years Teaching Itself to Rotate a Cube
From ACM News

An AI-Driven Robot Hand Spent a Hundred Years Teaching Itself to Rotate a Cube

AI researchers have demonstrated a self-teaching algorithm that gives a robot hand remarkable new dexterity.

Neural Network Implemented with Light Instead of Electrons
From ACM News

Neural Network Implemented with Light Instead of Electrons

Neural networks have a reputation for being computationally expensive. But only the training portion of things really stresses most computer hardware, since it...

How Robot Hands Are Evolving to Do What Ours Can
From ACM News

How Robot Hands Are Evolving to Do What Ours Can

A robotic hand? Four autonomous fingers and a thumb that can do anything your own flesh and blood can do? That is still the stuff of fantasy.

The Hackers Teaching Old DNA Sequencers New Tricks
From ACM News

The Hackers Teaching Old DNA Sequencers New Tricks

In a basement storeroom at Stanford University in California, the guts of a dozen DNA sequencers lie exposed—hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cameras and...

The Ethics of Computer Science: This Researcher Has a Controversial Proposal
From ACM Opinion

The Ethics of Computer Science: This Researcher Has a Controversial Proposal

In the midst of growing public concern over artificial intelligence (AI), privacy and the use of data, Brent Hecht has a controversial proposal: the computer-science...

A Fault-Tolerant System for Stopping 'Leaks' in Quantum Computers
From ACM TechNews

A Fault-Tolerant System for Stopping 'Leaks' in Quantum Computers

Researchers at Yale University have designed a system to prevent future quantum computers from "leaking" errors in ancillary quantum bits to logical qubits.

One Woman's Math Could Help NASA Put People on Mars
From ACM News

One Woman's Math Could Help NASA Put People on Mars

Kathleen Howell never aspired to walk on the moon. 

Wild About Tech, China Even Loves Robot Waiters That Can't Serve
From ACM News

Wild About Tech, China Even Loves Robot Waiters That Can't Serve

The mind-reading headsets won't read minds.

There's Water on Mars! Signs of Buried Lake Tantalize Scientists
From ACM News

There's Water on Mars! Signs of Buried Lake Tantalize Scientists

A large saltwater lake seems to lurk under ice near Mars's south pole.

Hordes of Research Robots Could Be Hijacked for Fun and Sabotage
From ACM News

Hordes of Research Robots Could Be Hijacked for Fun and Sabotage

Many experimental robots that live in research laboratories around the world may be wide open to hackers.

Who Just Beat the Bay Area in Tech Jobs? Toronto
From ACM Careers

Who Just Beat the Bay Area in Tech Jobs? Toronto

Toronto's tech scene is so hot the city created more jobs than the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and Washington, D.C., combined last year, while leapfrogging...

How ­.S. Intelligence Agencies Can Find Out What Trump Told Putin
From ACM Opinion

How ­.S. Intelligence Agencies Can Find Out What Trump Told Putin

President Donald Trump's insistence on holding a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin hobbled U.S. intelligence agencies that would usually...

Big Tech is Throwing Money and Talent at Home Robots
From ACM Careers

Big Tech is Throwing Money and Talent at Home Robots

Science fiction writers and technologists have been predicting the arrival of robot butlers for the better part of a century. So far domestic robots have been relatively...

"I Was Devastated": Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets
From ACM Opinion

"I Was Devastated": Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets

"For people who want to make sure the Web serves humanity, we have to concern ourselves with what people are building on top of it," Tim Berners-Lee told me one...

This Bomb-Simulating ­S Supercomputer Broke a World Record
From ACM News

This Bomb-Simulating ­S Supercomputer Broke a World Record

Brad Settlemyer had a supercomputing solution in search of a problem.

Welcome to the Airport of the Future, Where Your Face Is Your Passport
From ACM News

Welcome to the Airport of the Future, Where Your Face Is Your Passport

Australia is a bloody long way from the rest of the world.

A Record-Breaking Microscope
From ACM News

A Record-Breaking Microscope

In a paper Nature, Jiang et al.1 report the highest-magnification image ever obtained using a transmission electron microscope.

How a Flock of Drones Developed Collective Intelligence
From ACM News

How a Flock of Drones Developed Collective Intelligence

The drones rise all at once, 30 strong, the domes of light on their undercarriages glowing 30 different hues—like luminescent candy sprinkles against the gray,...

3D Image Reveals Hidden Neurons in Fruit-Fly Brain
From ACM News

3D Image Reveals Hidden Neurons in Fruit-Fly Brain

Scientists have produced a 3D image of a fruit fly's brain that's so detailed, researchers can trace connections between neurons across the entire organ.

Chinese Researchers Achieve Stunning Quantum-Entanglement Record
From ACM News

Chinese Researchers Achieve Stunning Quantum-Entanglement Record

Scientists have just packed 18 qubits—the most basic units of quantum computing—into just six weirdly connected photons.
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