acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

News


bg-corner

An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


Waymo Gets Green Light for Robot Cars in California; No Humans Needed
From ACM TechNews

Waymo Gets Green Light for Robot Cars in California; No Humans Needed

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has granted a permit to Waymo to test fully autonomous cars with no human driver on public roads.

E.T., We're Home
From ACM News

E.T., We're Home

If extraterrestrial intelligence exists somewhere in our galaxy, a new MIT study proposes that laser technology on Earth could, in principle, be fashioned into...

­sing Wi-Fi to 'See' Behind Closed Doors Is Easier than Anyone Thought
From ACM News

­sing Wi-Fi to 'See' Behind Closed Doors Is Easier than Anyone Thought

Wi-Fi fills our world with radio waves. In your home, in the office, and increasingly on city streets, humans are bathed in a constant background field of 2.4-...

Astronomers Creep ­p to the Edge of the Milky Way's Black Hole
From ACM News

Astronomers Creep ­p to the Edge of the Milky Way's Black Hole

For the first time, scientists have spotted something wobbling around the black hole at the core of our galaxy.

Another ­se for AI: Finding Millions of ­nregistered Voters
From ACM TechNews

Another ­se for AI: Finding Millions of ­nregistered Voters

IBM's Jeff Jonas has for several years used his artificial intelligence software for a multistate project to identify eligible voters and purge voter rolls of inaccuracies...

The Robot Revolution Is Coming, and Dang Is It Cute
From ACM TechNews

The Robot Revolution Is Coming, and Dang Is It Cute

How adorable robots are may be a critical factor for their public acceptance.

Machine Learning Spots Natural Selection at Work in Human Genome
From ACM News

Machine Learning Spots Natural Selection at Work in Human Genome

Pinpointing where and how the human genome is evolving can be like hunting for a needle in a haystack.

Quantum Physicists Found a New, Safer Way to Navigate
From ACM News

Quantum Physicists Found a New, Safer Way to Navigate

In 2015, the U.S. Naval Academy decided that its graduates needed to return to the past and learn how to navigate using the stars.

Even a Few Bots Can Shift Public Opinion in Big Ways
From ACM Opinion

Even a Few Bots Can Shift Public Opinion in Big Ways

Nearly two-thirds of the social media bots with political activity on Twitter before the 2016 U.S. presidential election supported Donald Trump.

English Has the Scientific Edge, for Now 
From ACM News

English Has the Scientific Edge, for Now 

For centuries, science was a multilingual affair, powered by French, German, English and other tongues. But since the early 1970s, English has become the undisputed...

Here's How Much Bots Drive Conversation During News Events
From ACM News

Here's How Much Bots Drive Conversation During News Events

Last week, as thousands of Central American migrants made their way northward through Mexico, walking a treacherous route toward the US border, talk of "the caravan...

NASA's Dawn Mission to Asteroid Belt Comes to End
From ACM News

NASA's Dawn Mission to Asteroid Belt Comes to End

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system's earliest chapter.

Artificial Intelligence Is Learning to Keep Learning
From ACM News

Artificial Intelligence Is Learning to Keep Learning

What if you stopped learning after graduation? It sounds stultifying, but that is how most machine-learning systems are trained.

The World's Strongest MRI Machines Are Pushing Human Imaging to New Limits
From ACM News

The World's Strongest MRI Machines Are Pushing Human Imaging to New Limits

On a cold morning in Minneapolis last December, a man walked into a research centre to venture where only pigs had gone before: into the strongest magnetic resonance...

This Robot Transforms Itself to Navigate an Obstacle Course
From ACM News

This Robot Transforms Itself to Navigate an Obstacle Course

When you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail, but the world starts to look more interesting if your hammer can change shape.

Electronic Voting Was Going to Be the Future. Now Paper's Making a Comeback
From ACM News

Electronic Voting Was Going to Be the Future. Now Paper's Making a Comeback

You could call it buyer's remorse. Five US states went all in on electronic voting machines, and four of those states are poised to get out.

NASA Retires Kepler Space Telescope, Passes Planet-Hunting Torch
From ACM News

NASA Retires Kepler Space Telescope, Passes Planet-Hunting Torch

After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets—more planets even than stars—NASA's Kepler space...

Happy with a 20% Chance of Sadness
From ACM News

Happy with a 20% Chance of Sadness

In the winter of 1994, a young man in his early twenties named Tim was a patient in a London psychiatric hospital.

AI Makes New Video Games by Watching People Play Super Mario, Kirby
From ACM TechNews

AI Makes New Video Games by Watching People Play Super Mario, Kirby

A machine learning system taught itself the basics of video game design by watching videos of people playing games.

What Does a Crooked Election Look Like?
From ACM News

What Does a Crooked Election Look Like?

For voters around the world, including the millions of Americans who will cast ballots in the midterms up to and on November 6, an election is democracy in action—an...
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account