Communications of the ACM
Good Algorithms Make Good Neighbors
Many computer scientists doubted ad hoc methods would ever give way to a more general approach to finding nearest neighbors. … From Communications of the ACMAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM News
Beyond Crispr: A Guide to the Many Other Ways to Edit a Genome
The CRISPR–Cas9 tool enables scientists to alter genomes practically at will.
From ACM News
Legal Confusion Threatens to Slow Data Science
Knowledge from millions of biological studies encoded into one network—that is Daniel Himmelstein's alluring description of Hetionet, a free online resource that...
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Welcome to the Cyborg Olympics
Vance Bergeron was once an amateur cyclist who rode 7,000 kilometres per year—much of it on steep climbs in the Alps.
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Planet Hunters Seek New Ways to Detect Alien Life
In the search for life beyond Earth, false alarms abound.
From ACM News
Human Brain Mapped in Unprecedented Detail
Think of a spinning globe and the patchwork of countries it depicts: such maps help us to understand where we are, and that nations differ from one another.
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How China Is Rewriting the Book on Human Origins
On the outskirts of Beijing, a small limestone mountain named Dragon Bone Hill rises above the surrounding sprawl.
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Brain-Data Gold Mine Could Reveal How Neurons Compute
Inspired by the large-scale sky surveys with which astronomers explore the cosmos, neuroscientists in Seattle, Washington, have spent four years systematically...
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Clouds Get High on Climate Change
Clouds are moving up, up and away. An analysis of satellite data has found that, since the early 1980s, clouds have shifted towards Earth's poles and cloud tops...
From ACM Opinion
Obama's Top Scientist Talks Shrinking Budgets, Donald Trump, and His Biggest Regret
John Holdren is no stranger to the spotlight. Over his long career in science, Holdren—a physicist by training—has worked on controversial issues such as climate...
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'ransomware' Cyberattack Highlights Vulnerability of Universities
The first Patrick Feng knew about a cyberattack on his university was when one of his colleagues told him that her computer had been infected by hackers and rendered...
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A Simpler Twist of Fate
Until the day it dies, a cell that has become a skin cell remains a skin cell—or so scientists used to think.
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Plan to Synthesize Human Genome Elicits Mixed Response
Proposals for a large public-private initiative to synthesize an entire human genome from scratch—an effort that could take a decade and require billions of dollars...
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Digital Forensics: From the Crime Lab to the Library
When archivists at California's Stanford University received the collected papers of the late palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould in 2004, they knew right away they...
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1,500 Scientists Lift the Lid on Reproducibility
More than 70% of researchers have tried and failed to reproduce another scientist's experiments, and more than half have failed to reproduce their own experiments...
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Genome Reveals Why Giraffes Have Long Necks
Call it a tall task: researchers have decoded the genomes of the giraffe and its closest relative, the okapi.
From ACM Careers
AI Talent Grab Sparks Excitement and Concern
When Andrew Ng joined Google from Stanford University in 2011, he was among a trickle of artificial-intelligence (AI) experts in academia taking up roles in industry...
From ACM News
Europe Plans Giant Billion-Euro Quantum Technologies Project
The European Commission has quietly announced plans to launch a €1-billion (US$1.13 billion) project to boost a raft of quantum technologies—from secure communication...
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Gene-Edited Crispr Mushroom Escapes US Regulation
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will not regulate a mushroom genetically modified with the gene-editing tool CRISPR–Cas9.
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First Paralysed Person to Be 'reanimated' Offers Neuroscience Insights
A quadriplegic man who has become the first person to be implanted with technology that sends signals from the brain to muscles—allowing him to regain some movement...
From ACM News