Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2018
From ACM TechNews
How a Yeast Cell Helps Crack Open the 'Black Box' Behind Artificial Intelligence
Researchers say they have developed a "visible" neural network, and have used it to construct a virtual model of a functioning brewer's yeast cell.
From ACM TechNews
Mining Hardware Helps Scientists Gain Insight Into Silicon Nanoparticles
Researchers have developed the first three-dimensional dynamic model of an interaction between light and silicon nanoparticles.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Science for All: Can Schools Pull It Off?
The nascent Computer Science for All movement aims to help U.S. K-12 schools prepare every student to thrive in a tech-driven future.
From ACM News
Taking Radio Astronomy to the Next Level
After its latest upgrade, a radio telescope in Westerbork, the Netherlands, generates 3.7 terabits of data per second, an enormous data-stream that must be processed in real time.
From ACM News
Does a Quantum Equation Govern Some of the niverse's Large Structures?
Researchers who want to predict the behavior of systems governed by quantum mechanics—an electron in an atom, say, or a photon of light traveling through space—typically turn to the Schrödinger equation.
From ACM News
FBI Chief Signals Need to nderstand Potential Threats Tied to Cryptocurrency
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday said the bureau must be prepared to confront a new set of emerging cyber threats.
From ACM TechNews
Hail Technology: Deep Learning May Help Predict When People Need Rides
Researchers have found computers may be better at forecasting demand for taxi and ride-sharing services.
From ACM TechNews
Baidu's New AI Can Mimic Your Voice After Listening to It for Just One Minute
Researchers at Chinese search giant Baidu say they have developed an artificial intelligence that can learn to precisely mimic a person's voice.
From ACM TechNews
Chimpanzees Help Researchers Improve Machine Learning of Animal Simulations
New computer models of chimpanzees are improving understanding of their walking dynamics.
From ACM TechNews
New Low Light Camera Tech Will Improve AR Apps, Facial Recognition in Smartphones
Researchers in Israel have developed new imaging software that could help improve facial recognition systems and augmented reality apps on smartphones.
From ACM News
Google Researchers Are Learning How Machines Learn
Machines are starting to learn tasks on their own. They are identifying faces, recognizing spoken words, reading medical scans and even carrying on their own conversations.
From ACM News
Wanna See Around Corners? Better Get Yourself a Laser
You can't see the bunny, but the picosecond laser certainly can.
From ACM News
Latest S Weather Satellite Highlights Forecasting Challenges
The United States filled a crucial gap in its weather-forecasting arsenal when it launched its latest geostationary satellite on 1 March. The craft will enable meteorologists to track hurricanes, snow storms and other threats…
From ACM TechNews
Chemists Test Computer-Planned Syntheses for the First Time
Chemists have tested a computer program's ability to plan complete syntheses without human intervention.
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputing nder a New Lens: A Sandia-Developed Benchmark Re-Ranks Top Computers
Sandia National Laboratories' High-Performance Conjugate Gradients benchmarking software program is gaining prominence as a tool for ranking supercomputer performance.
From ACM TechNews
JILA Team Invents New Way to 'See' the Quantum World
A new imaging technique produces rapid, precise measurements of quantum behavior in an atomic clock as visual art.
From ACM News
Hackers' Delight: Does Quantum Computing Spell the End for Encryption?
Today's stalwart encryption methods used to send data securely over the Internet are expected to be no match for the power of tomorrow's quantum computers.
From ACM News
AI's Dirty Little Secret: It's Powered by People
There's a dirty little secret about artificial intelligence: It's powered by hundreds of thousands of real people.
From ACM News
The Decentralized Internet Is Here, With Some Glitches
I usually write in Google's online word processor Google Docs, even when noting the company's shortcomings.
From ACM News
These Provocative Images Show Russian Trolls Sought to Inflame Debate Over Climate Change, Fracking and Dakota Pipeline
Russian trolls used Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to inflame U.S. political debate over energy policy and climate change, a finding that underscores how the Russian campaign of social media manipulation went beyond the 2016…
From ACM TechNews
Jumping Spiders and Flying Bees: The Rise of Bio-Inspired Microrobots
University of Manchester researchers are developing jumping robot spiders and swarms of robotic bees.
From ACM TechNews
Machine Learning Could Improve How Doctors Diagnose Heart Attacks
Researchers say they have used machine learning to teach computers to read cardiac electrical signals and interpret electrocardiograms with greater accuracy.
From ACM TechNews
Finding the Needle in a Digital Haystack
Researchers are studying how to teach computers to define "normal" data, and then have them detect anomalies.
From ACM TechNews
HKST Researchers Develop First Innovative Fusion-Based Location Sensing Technology
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology researchers have developed a new fusion-based technology to support smart city projects.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Reality Prepares Business Students for Digital Leadership
The ESMT Berlin business school is using virtual reality to teach leadership in a digital world to executives from some of Germany’s biggest companies.
From ACM TechNews
China Luring Young International IT Talent Away From Silicon Valley
International students are being drawn to the Chinese technology field for opportunities to gain experience in advanced technology disciplines.
From ACM News
Has Dopamine Got s Hooked on Tech?
In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to unite us, but to distract us.
From ACM News
Encrypted Smartphones Secure Your Identity, Not Just Your Data
Making phones easier to unlock potentially weakens this key element of securing people's online identities.
From ACM News
Spoof, Jam, Destroy: Why We Need a Backup for GPS
Earth got a warning shot on January 25, 2016. On that day, Air Force engineers were scheduled to kill off a GPS satellite named SVN-23—the oldest in the navigation constellation.
From ACM News
Astronomers Detect Light from the niverse's First Stars
Astronomers have for the first time spotted long-sought signals of light from the earliest stars ever to form in the Universe—around 180 million years after the Big Bang.