Psychologists are experimenting with virtual reality-based therapy to treat U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq who show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). VR therapy, they find, provides methods for re-creating visual, auditory, and thermal cues to set the stage for treatment of veterans suffering from the disorder, which often causes nightmares and flashbacks. The Associated […]
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A team of roboticists are using the lessons of 1930s physiologist Nikolai Bernstein to build the world’s fastest walking robot. BBC News reports Runbot, a self-learning, dynamic robot, is helping scientists unravel the mystery of walking. The small, bipod robot can move at speeds of more than three leg lengths per second, slightly slower than […]
MIT researchers made a 60-watt light bulb glow by sending it energy wirelessly from a device seven feet away. Experts call it the first step in a future in which cell phones and other gadgets get juice as needed without being plugged in first. The breakthrough, reports the Boston Globe, is called WiTricity. While the […]
The U.S. Department of Defense is using some of the nation’s top technology venture capitalists and strategists to help it tap innovations from tiny start-up companies that have not traditionally been a part of the military’s vast supply chain. The New York Times reports the program provides a regular exchange of ideas and meetings among […]
A team of 18 mathematicians and computer scientists have mapped one of the most complex objects in mathematics—E8—shown here in an eight-dimensional form projected onto two dimensions. The monstrous computer-based calculation has rekindled researchers’ hopes of solving a longstanding problem among mathematicians, reports Scientific American. The team’s calculation, which took four years to prepare and […]
Princeton professor Andrew Appel recently purchased five Sequoia e-voting machines from a government auction site for $82; now he and his students are dissecting the machines to determine just how tamper-proof they really are. Wired reports the team is reverse engineering the software embedded in the machines’ ROM chips to check for security holes. Appel […]
Call For Nominations For Advanced Member Grades in ACM
ACM has three distinct member grades to recognize the professional accomplishments of our members: Senior Member recognizes those ACM members with at least 10 years of professional experience that have demonstrated performance and accomplishment that set them apart. The list of recipients is available at awards.acm.org/homepage.cfm?awd=159. Distinguished Engineer, Scientist, or Member recognizes those ACM members […]
The SGB EC brought forward a motion to dissolve SIGAPL, the Special Interest Group on the APL and J Languages based on an insufficient level of activity. The SGB EC recommends that SIGAPL's resources be used to provide up to two years worth of membership in another SIG of their choice (one year for SIGAPL members who have paid only one year of dues). Furthermore, the SGB EC has recommended that the SIGAPL community could organize conferences or other activities under the auspices of a more general SIG such as SIGPLAN. In accordance with ACM Bylaw 6 Section 11, this motion will be considered only after ACM's membership has had 60 days of notice to respond. If one percent of all ACM members, or five percent of SIGAPL members challenge the proposal to dissolve SIGAPL, the consideration of the motion will be delayed six additional months to give those challengers an opportunity to revitalize the SIG. ACM members who wish to challenge the proposed dissolution should contact Donna Cappo, Director of SIG Services, at cappo@acm.org, no later than June 15, 2007. Challenges must include your ACM membership number and should indicate whether you are a current member of SIGAPL. Other questions can be addressed to SGB Chair Joseph Konstan (konstan@acm.org).
ACM Honors Distinguished Members
ACM has three distinct member grades to recognize the professional accomplishments of its members. The list of those members recognized as ACM Fellows in 2006 was published in the March 2007 issue of Communications (p. 26). Here, we list those members named distinguished engineer, scientist, or member and senior members in 2006. Distinguished Engineer, Scientist, […]
All space missions wrestle with producing enough power to complete their projects while restricting the weight of generators, batteries, and solar arrays onboard. Now, new research conducted by IntAct Labs, Cambridge, MA, is exploring the futuristic concept of covering spacesuits in motion-sensitive proteins that could generate power from astronauts’ movements, reports New Scientist. Biological organisms […]
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