Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2013
From ACM Careers
Computer Brain Escapes Google's X Lab to Supercharge Search
Two years ago Stanford professor Andrew Ng joined Google's X Lab, the research group that's given us Google Glass and the company's driverless cars. His mission: to harness Google's massive data centers and build artificial intelligence
…From ACM News
Making Quantum Encryption Practical
One of the many promising applications of quantum mechanics in the information sciences is quantum key distribution (QKD) in which the counterintuitive behavior of quantum particles guarantees that no one can eavesdrop on a private
…From ACM Careers
40 Years Ago, Ethernet's Fathers Were the Startup Kids
Bob Metcalfe, Dave Boggs, and the rest of the scientists at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1973 were a lot like young developers at a Silicon Valley startup today.
From ACM TechNews
Robots Learn to Take a Proper Handoff by Following Digitized Human Examples
Researchers have developed a method that allows a humanoid robot to receive an object handed to it by a person with a somewhat-natural human-like motion.
From ACM TechNews
Stacking 2-D Materials Produces Surprising Results
Researchers have made progress on the longstanding challenge of developing a band gap property in graphene, essential for using the material to make transistors.
From ACM TechNews
3D Modeling Technology Offers Groundbreaking Solution for Engineers
New software will make it easier for engineers to develop real-world safety assessments of structures and foundations.
From ACM TechNews
Security Risks Found in Sensors for Heart Devices, Consumer Electronics
An international research team has exposed a vulnerability in the sensors used in medical devices, Bluetooth microphones, and computers.
From ACM TechNews
Parcels Find Their Way to You Via the Crowd
A potential crowd-powered delivery system called TwedEx would deliver packages to consumers without requiring them to deviate from normal routes.
From ACM News
Is This Virtual Worm the First Sign of the Singularity?
For all the talk of artificial intelligence and all the games of SimCity that have been played, no one in the world can actually simulate living things. Biology is so complex that nowhere on Earth is there a comprehensive model
…From ACM News
The Audacious Plan to End Hunger with 3D Printed Food
Anjan Contractor's 3D food printer might evoke visions of the "replicator" popularized in Star Trek, from which Captain Picard was constantly interrupting himself to order tea. And indeed Contractor's company, Systems & Materials
…From ACM Opinion
The Future of Propaganda: Sean Gourley on Big Data and the 'War of Ideas'
In 2009, Sean Gourley, an Oxford-trained physicist, gave a TED talk called "The Mathematics of War."
From ACM News
How to Hack a Nation's Infrastructure
I'm watching a live video feed of people visiting a cafe in London.
From ACM TechNews
Principles of Ant Locomotion Could Help Future Robot Teams Work Underground
Researchers say they have discovered the fundamental principles of locomotion that robot teams could use to quickly travel through underground tunnels.
From ACM TechNews
Program Motivates Native Alaskans to Pursue STEM Careers
U.S. education needs improved quality control if it is to produce better results, says the founder of the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program.
From ACM TechNews
Intel Fuels a Rebellion Around Your Data
Intel Labs is launching a data economy initiative to help consumers realize more of the value of their personal digital information.
From ACM News
How to Make a Less Creepy Robot? Simple, Just Add Data
Disney’s research arm has solved a problem that you probably didn’t even know robots have—their inability to accept objects from people in a natural way.
From ACM Opinion
Is Computing Speed Set to Make a Quantum Leap?
"Our imagination is stretched to the utmost," wrote Richard Feynman, the greatest physicist of his day, "not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things that are there."
From ACM News
Out with the Old
Getting rid of obsolete data is getting more difficult, thanks to new regulations and more personal devices in the workplace.
From ACM News
Princeton University Celebrates the Art of Science
Sometimes the connection between art and science is clear.
From ACM News
If Your Shrink Is a Bot, How Do You Respond?
Her hair is brown and tied back into a professional-looking ponytail.
From ACM News
Helper Robots Are Steered, Tentatively, to Care for the Aging
In the opening scene of the movie "Robot & Frank," which takes place in the near future, Frank, an elderly man who lives alone, is arguing with his son about going to a medical center for Alzheimer's treatment when the son interrupts
…From ACM News
NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Drills Second Rock Target
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland."
From ACM News
Web Browsers Are Reinvented
Mobile phones, wearable devices, and self-driving cars are generating buzz as the future of technology. But the old Web browser is being reinvented too, in a trend with implications for how consumers work and entertain themselves
…From ACM News
Chatting in Code on Walkie-Talkies in Pakistan's Restive Tribal Areas
Sharif loves using his mukhabera. "I use it daily, mostly at night time, because signals are clear at that time," he says. "I am in touch with most of my friends this way."
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Take Data Approach to Beat Disease
Researchers are using computer hardware and programming with genetic sequencing tools to help identify the sources of ailments at the genetic level.
From ACM TechNews
Badminton-Playing Robot Tests Software Designs of the Future
A badminton-playing robot demonstrates methodology and tools under development for optimizing energy flows/losses throughout a machine.
From ACM TechNews
New Imaging System 'Reads' Ancient Scrolls
A combination of x-rays and computer modeling offers historians a way to read ancient parchments so fragile they cannot be unrolled.
From ACM TechNews
Thought Experiment: Build a Supercomputer Replica of the Human Brain
Henry Markram believes his Human Brain Project can simulate all 86 billion neurons in the human brain as well as the 100 trillion connections among them.
From ACM TechNews
Fed Chairman: 'Humanity's Capacity to Innovate' Has Never Been Greater
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says innovation and information technology are fueling economic change.
From ACM TechNews
Group Helps to Improve Use of Colossal Digital Library 'Europeana'
The UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country's IXA Group has enhanced the use of the vast Europeana digital library.