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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.


All the Light There Is to See? 4 x 10⁸⁴ Photons
From ACM News

All the Light There Is to See? 4 x 10⁸⁴ Photons

In one of those exercises that you think should be impossible or perhaps a punishment for some infraction, a team of astronomers has now measured the total amount...

The Race Is On to Protect Data From the Next Leap in Computers. And China Has the Lead.
From ACM News

The Race Is On to Protect Data From the Next Leap in Computers. And China Has the Lead.

The world's leading technology companies, from Google to Alibaba in China, are racing to build the first quantum computer, a machine that would be far more powerful...

The Friendship That Made Google Huge
From ACM News

The Friendship That Made Google Huge

One day in March of 2000, six of Google's best engineers gathered in a makeshift war room.

Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink
From ACM News

Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink

Stephanie LaMassa did a double take. She was staring at two images on her computer screen, both of the same object—except they looked nothing alike.

Cambridge Analytica Knew How You'd Vote If You Wore Wrangler
From ACM News

Cambridge Analytica Knew How You'd Vote If You Wore Wrangler

The whistle-blower behind the Cambridge Analytica revelations said the now-defunct data research firm used the fashion preferences of Facebook Inc. users to help...

Nailing Down the Nature of 'Oumuamua; It's Probably a Comet, but . . .
From ACM Opinion

Nailing Down the Nature of 'Oumuamua; It's Probably a Comet, but . . .

Shortly before Halloween, the chairman of Harvard's astronomy department openly declared that an interstellar object hurtling through our Solar System might just...

How Supercomputers Can Help Fix Our Wildfire Problem
From ACM News

How Supercomputers Can Help Fix Our Wildfire Problem

Fire is chaos. Fire doesn't care what it destroys or who it kills—it spreads without mercy, leaving total destruction in its wake, as California's Camp and Woolsey...

Asteroid-Sampling Mission Zeroes In on Tiny Space Rock
From ACM News

Asteroid-Sampling Mission Zeroes In on Tiny Space Rock

For the second time this year, a spacecraft is about to partner with an asteroid in an intimate dance.

Making AI Algorithms Crazy Fast ­sing Chips Powered by Light
From ACM News

Making AI Algorithms Crazy Fast ­sing Chips Powered by Light

Inside a small laboratory in Boston's seaport district, buried within a jumble of lasers, lenses, mirrors, and a tangle of wiring, is a tiny chip that might be...

­NSW Has Found a Way to Access Information Stored Within Atoms
From ACM TechNews

­NSW Has Found a Way to Access Information Stored Within Atoms

Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia have demonstrated a compact sensor for accessing information stored in the electrons of individual...

China Is Building a $9 Billion Rival to the American-Run GPS
From ACM News

China Is Building a $9 Billion Rival to the American-Run GPS

China is taking its rivalry with the U.S. to the heavens, spending at least $9 billion to build a celestial navigation system and cut its dependence on the American...

­K Police Wants AI to Stop Violent Crime Before It Happens
From ACM News

­K Police Wants AI to Stop Violent Crime Before It Happens

Police in the UK want to predict serious violent crime using artificial intelligence, New Scientist can reveal. The idea is that individuals flagged by the system...

Quantum Computing: Atomic Clocks Make for Longer-Lasting Qubits
From ACM News

Quantum Computing: Atomic Clocks Make for Longer-Lasting Qubits

A decade ago, quantum computing was still something of a parlor game.

InSight Is Catching Rays on Mars
From ACM News

InSight Is Catching Rays on Mars

NASA's InSight has sent signals to Earth indicating that its solar panels are open and collecting sunlight on the Martian surface.

You Will Be Replaced. Here's How
From ACM News

You Will Be Replaced. Here's How

Route 9 skims by Boston and cuts clear across Massachusetts to Pittsfield, a city of roughly 50,000, the largest in Berkshire County.

NASA’s Mars InSight Mission Lands on Red Planet's Surface
From ACM News

NASA’s Mars InSight Mission Lands on Red Planet's Surface

The InSight lander, NASA's latest foray to the red planet, has landed.

How Cheap Labor Drives China's A.I. Ambitions
From ACM Careers

How Cheap Labor Drives China's A.I. Ambitions

Some of the most critical work in advancing China's technology goals takes place in a former cement factory in the middle of the country's heartland, far from the...

NASA InSight Team on Course for Mars Touchdown
From ACM News

NASA InSight Team on Course for Mars Touchdown

NASA's Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on track for a soft touchdown on the surface of...

Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Moving Parts
From ACM News

Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Moving Parts

Behind a thin white veil separating his makeshift lab from joggers at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology indoor track, aerospace engineer Steven Barrett recently...

Beijing to Judge Every Resident Based on Behavior by End of 2020
From ACM News

Beijing to Judge Every Resident Based on Behavior by End of 2020

China's plan to judge each of its 1.3 billion people based on their social behavior is moving a step closer to reality, with Beijing set to adopt a lifelong points...
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