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The Worlds of H. G. Wells
From ACM Opinion

The Worlds of H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) occupies a singular place in science and culture.

Obama's Science Legacy: Betting Big on Biomedical Science
From ACM Opinion

Obama's Science Legacy: Betting Big on Biomedical Science

When president-elect Barack Obama chose physicist John Holdren as his top science adviser in December 2008, some biomedical researchers worried that the pick signalled...

The Science That Fed Frankenstein
From ACM Opinion

The Science That Fed Frankenstein

In 1816, a teenager began to compose what many view as the first true work of science fiction—and unleashed one of the most subversive attacks on modern science...

­nite to Build a Quantum Internet
From ACM Opinion

­nite to Build a Quantum Internet

Almost 25 years ago, physicists discovered a way of 'teleporting' a quantum system from one place to another without moving it.

­se or Lose Our Navigation Skills
From ACM Opinion

­se or Lose Our Navigation Skills

In 1984, I was part of a team that was developing a receiver for a satellite-navigation system. After weeks of debugging, the blur of random digits settled on a...

Digital Intuition
From ACM Opinion

Digital Intuition

Napoleon had it and so did Charles Darwin. Tennis champion Roger Federer has it in spades. The dictionary defines intuition as knowledge obtained without conscious...

Genome-Editing Revolution: My Whirlwind Year with Crispr
From ACM Opinion

Genome-Editing Revolution: My Whirlwind Year with Crispr

Some 20 months ago, I started having trouble sleeping.

The Science to Look Out For in 2016
From ACM Opinion

The Science to Look Out For in 2016

A Swiss company is set to become the first firm to capture carbon dioxide from the air and sell it on a commercial scale, a stepping stone to larger facilities...

Crispr: A Path Through the Thicket
From ACM Opinion

Crispr: A Path Through the Thicket

The ease of use, accuracy and efficiency of the genome-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 has led to its broad adoption in research, as well as to preliminary applications...

Modelling: Build Imprecise Supercomputers
From ACM Opinion

Modelling: Build Imprecise Supercomputers

Today's supercomputers lack the power to model accurately many aspects of the real world, from the impact of cloud systems on Earth's climate to the processing...

Lust and the Turing Test
From ACM Opinion

Lust and the Turing Test

By and large, we watch movies to be entertained, not to be provoked into deep thought. Occasionally, a film does both.

Top 10 Hubble Images
From ACM Opinion

Top 10 Hubble Images

As the famous telescope turns 25, scientists who worked on the project choose their favourite pictures. 

Don't Edit the Human Germ Line
From ACM Opinion

Don't Edit the Human Germ Line

It is thought that studies involving the use of genome-editing tools to modify the DNA of human embryos will be published shortly.

Microscopy: Hasten High Resolution
From ACM Opinion

Microscopy: Hasten High Resolution

The best electron and scanning probe microscopes today can resolve individual atoms and chemical bonds.

Human Spaceflight: Find Asteroids to Get to Mars
From ACM Opinion

Human Spaceflight: Find Asteroids to Get to Mars

Interplanetary flight is the next giant leap for humans in space. Yet consensus on even the smallest steps forward has proven elusive.
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