acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

Recent Opinion


bg-corner

Cassini Seeks Insights to Life in Plumes of Enceladus, Saturn’s Icy Moon
From ACM News

Cassini Seeks Insights to Life in Plumes of Enceladus, Saturn’s Icy Moon

Where there is water, is there life?

Why Fully Autonomous Robot Cars Hail from the 20th Century
From ACM Opinion

Why Fully Autonomous Robot Cars Hail from the 20th Century

A vision of fully autonomous, self-driving cars allowing human owners to nap or read in the car seems to come from the future.

What Is Life?
From ACM Opinion

What Is Life?

"Why would NASA want to study a lake in Canada?"

How the Internet Has Changed Bullying
From ACM Opinion

How the Internet Has Changed Bullying

This summer, American Psychologist, the official journal of the American Psychological Association, released a special issue on the topic of bullying and victimization...

These 5 Facts Explain the Rise of the Drone
From ACM Opinion

These 5 Facts Explain the Rise of the Drone

The October 15 release of the so-called Drone Papers, leaked reports that appear to document the U.S. use of drone aircraft for military purposes, has given the...

The Myth of Basic Science
From ACM Opinion

The Myth of Basic Science

Innovation is a mysteriously difficult thing to dictate. Technology seems to change by a sort of inexorable, evolutionary progress, which we probably cannot stop—or...

We Don't Need Humans on Mars
From ACM Opinion

We Don't Need Humans on Mars

The two mobile robots Spirit and Opportunity were launched from Earth in 2003 and arrived on opposite sides of Mars in 2004. A suite of cameras, instruments, and...

When Technologies Manipulate Our Emotions
From Communications of the ACM

When Technologies Manipulate Our Emotions

Implications of the Facebook emotions study.

An Interview with Fred Brooks
From Communications of the ACM

An Interview with Fred Brooks

ACM Fellow and A.M. Turing Award recipient Fred Brooks reflects on his career.

Programming in K-12 Science Classrooms
From Communications of the ACM

Programming in K-12 Science Classrooms

Introducing students to visual programming as a pathway to text-based programming.

Electronic Health Records and Patient Safety
From Communications of the ACM

Electronic Health Records and Patient Safety

Examining the effects of electronic health records on the safety of patients in medical facilities.

Software Patents Are Falling Down
From Communications of the ACM

Software Patents Are Falling Down

Implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's new test for patentable subject matter.

Security Assurance
From Communications of the ACM

Security Assurance

How can customers tell they are getting it?

Max Schrems, Who Torpedoed Safe Harbor 1, Sees No Safe Harbor 2
From ACM Opinion

Max Schrems, Who Torpedoed Safe Harbor 1, Sees No Safe Harbor 2

He's just helped bring down a longstanding trans-Atlantic data-transfer pact used by thousands of businesses and Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems is already...

Fight Isis By Thinking Inside the Bot
From ACM Opinion

Fight Isis By Thinking Inside the Bot

What if we told you that fighting ISIS could be done cheaply, relatively easily, in a manner that would not escalate or put any in harm’s way?

Hackers Make Cars Safer. Don't Ban Them From Tinkering
From ACM Opinion

Hackers Make Cars Safer. Don't Ban Them From Tinkering

Virtually every new car sold today has some sort of network connection.

How the Scariest Video Games ­se Our Own Minds to Terrify ­s
From ACM Opinion

How the Scariest Video Games ­se Our Own Minds to Terrify ­s

I think he’s gone—Oh! He's not gone he’s not gone no no no he’s not gone oh Jesus Christ look at his face

Guys, Lots of Signals from Space Seem Like Aliens
From ACM Opinion

Guys, Lots of Signals from Space Seem Like Aliens

Last week, astronomers—amateur and pro—got excited about some strange results from the Kepler Space Telescope, the NASA observatory tasked with searching for Earth...

What Machines Can Learn from People and We Can Learn from Them
From ACM Opinion

What Machines Can Learn from People and We Can Learn from Them

Guruduth Banavar is an executive at IBM leading the team developing a new generation of cognitive systems—don't call it artificial intelligence—known as Watson.

Scores of Scores: How Companies Are Reducing Consumers to Single Numbers
From ACM Opinion

Scores of Scores: How Companies Are Reducing Consumers to Single Numbers

In his novel Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart imagined ubiquitous poles installed on sidewalks that display people’s credit scores as they walked by.
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account