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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.


'nanobuds' Could Turn Almost Any Surface Into a Touch Sensor
From ACM News

'nanobuds' Could Turn Almost Any Surface Into a Touch Sensor

Transparent films containing carbon nanobuds—molecular tubes of carbon with ball-like appendages—could turn just about any surface, regardless of its shape, into...

Sciserver: Big Data Infrastructure For Science
From ACM TechNews

Sciserver: Big Data Infrastructure For Science

Researchers are adapting tools developed for massive astronomy data sets into online big data storage and analytics tools that can be used across scientific disciplines...

On Pluto’s Doorstep, NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Awakens for Encounter
From ACM News

On Pluto’s Doorstep, NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Awakens for Encounter

After a voyage of nearly nine years and three billion miles—the farthest any space mission has ever traveled to reach its primary target—NASA's New Horizons spacecraft...

Who Owns the Biggest Biotech Discovery of the Century?
From ACM News

Who Owns the Biggest Biotech Discovery of the Century?

Last month in Silicon Valley, biologists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier showed up in black gowns to receive the $3 million Breakthrough Prize, a glitzy...

Baer's Odyssey: Meet the Serial Inventor Who Built the World's First Game Console
From ACM Opinion

Baer's Odyssey: Meet the Serial Inventor Who Built the World's First Game Console

Even if you're a devoted fan of video games, there's a decent chance you're not familiar with the name Ralph H. Baer.

Dawn Snaps Its Best-Yet Image of Dwarf Planet Ceres
From ACM News

Dawn Snaps Its Best-Yet Image of Dwarf Planet Ceres

The Dawn spacecraft has delivered a glimpse of Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt, in a new image taken 740,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from...

Trends to Watch in 2015: From Algorithmic Accountability to the ­ber of X
From ACM News

Trends to Watch in 2015: From Algorithmic Accountability to the ­ber of X

Year-end technology prediction lists can be dull fodder devoted to pie-in-the-sky concepts, outlandish marketing claims or rehashes of familiar trends.

Google's Intelligence Designer
From ACM Careers

Google's Intelligence Designer

Demis Hassabis started playing chess at age four and soon blossomed into a child prodigy.

Haptic Holograms Let You Touch the Void in Vr
From ACM News

Haptic Holograms Let You Touch the Void in Vr

Feeling is believing. A system that uses sound waves to project "haptic holograms" into mid-air—letting you touch 3D virtual objects with your bare hands—is poised...

The Last Astronauts to Fly to Hubble Talk About Their Wild Mission
From ACM Opinion

The Last Astronauts to Fly to Hubble Talk About Their Wild Mission

On a sunny afternoon in May, 2009, seven astronauts strapped themselves into the space shuttle Atlantis and rocketed toward the heavens.

Hacked vs. Hackers: Game On
From ACM News

Hacked vs. Hackers: Game On

Paul Kocher, one of the country's leading cryptographers, says he thinks the explanation for the world's dismal state of digital security may lie in two charts.

The Fastest Camera Ever Created Will Be Used to Study Invisibility Cloaks
From ACM News

The Fastest Camera Ever Created Will Be Used to Study Invisibility Cloaks

If you're wondering what scientists can do with a camera that captures 100 billion frames per second, you're not alone.

Ground Team Ready to Rouse Pluto Probe For Historic Flyby
From ACM News

Ground Team Ready to Rouse Pluto Probe For Historic Flyby

On the final stretch of a speedy nine-year trek through the solar system, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will be awakened from hibernation Dec. 6 for an encounter...

A Googler's Quest to Teach Machines How to ­nderstand Emotions
From ACM Careers

A Googler's Quest to Teach Machines How to ­nderstand Emotions

Quoc Le sees the world as a series of numbers.

Finding an Image with an Image and Other Feats of Computer Vision
From ACM Opinion

Finding an Image with an Image and Other Feats of Computer Vision

"We found that people were searching for squirrels just to favorite them, just to click 'like.' And the same with buses."

Software Speeds Detection of Diseases and Cancer-Treatment Targets
From ACM TechNews

Software Speeds Detection of Diseases and Cancer-Treatment Targets

Researchers say they have developed software that can identify DNA from viruses in all parts of the Tree of Life. 

Google and Nasa Ride D-Wave to a Quantum Future
From ACM News

Google and Nasa Ride D-Wave to a Quantum Future

They could be the most powerful computers in the world—so perhaps it's no surprise that the biggest internet company on the planet is testing one out.

Physics: Quantum Computer Quest
From ACM News

Physics: Quantum Computer Quest

When asked what he likes best about working for Google, physicist John Martinis does not mention the famous massage chairs in the hallways, or the free snacks available...

Google Can Now Tell You're Not a Robot With Just One Click
From ACM News

Google Can Now Tell You're Not a Robot With Just One Click

When Alan Turing first conceived of the Turing Test in 1947, he suggested that a computer program’s resemblance to a human mind could be gauged by making it answer...

What's Next For the Rosetta Mission and Comet Exploration
From ACM News

What's Next For the Rosetta Mission and Comet Exploration

Somewhere dark and icy on a comet 320 million miles away, the history-making, comet-bouncing Philae spacecraft is sleeping.
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