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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


The Revolution Will Not Be Crystallized: A New Method Sweeps Through Structural Biology
From ACM News

The Revolution Will Not Be Crystallized: A New Method Sweeps Through Structural Biology

In a basement room, deep in the bowels of a steel-clad building in Cambridge, a major insurgency is under way.

The Tiniest Lego: A Tale of Nanoscale Motors, Rotors, Switches and Pumps
From ACM News

The Tiniest Lego: A Tale of Nanoscale Motors, Rotors, Switches and Pumps

The robot moves slowly along its track, pausing regularly to reach out an arm that carefully scoops up a component.

Online Security Braces For Quantum Revolution
From ACM News

Online Security Braces For Quantum Revolution

Encryption fix begins in preparation for arrival of futuristic computers.

Quantum 'spookiness' Passes Toughest Test Yet
From ACM TechNews

Quantum 'spookiness' Passes Toughest Test Yet

The toughest test of quantum theory ever conducted has verified "spooky action at a distance" is inherent to the quantum domain.  

Pluto Snow Forecast Poses Atmospheric Conundrum
From ACM News

Pluto Snow Forecast Poses Atmospheric Conundrum

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft solved many mysteries about Pluto when it flew past the dwarf planet in July. But as mission controllers prepare to steer the probe...

Quantum 'spookiness' Passes Toughest Test Yet
From ACM News

Quantum 'spookiness' Passes Toughest Test Yet

It's a bad day both for Albert Einstein and for hackers.

Biohackers Gear ­p For Genome Editing
From ACM News

Biohackers Gear ­p For Genome Editing

A complete lack of formal scientific training has not kept Johan Sosa from dabbling with one of the most powerful molecular-biology tools to come along in decades...

Superconductivity Record Sparks Wave of Follow-­p Physics
From ACM News

Superconductivity Record Sparks Wave of Follow-­p Physics

Hydrogen sulfide—the compound responsible for the smell of rotten eggs—conducts electricity with zero resistance at a record high temperature of 203 kelvin (–70...

3D-Printed Device Helps Computers Solve Cocktail-Party Problem
From ACM News

3D-Printed Device Helps Computers Solve Cocktail-Party Problem

Artificial-intelligence researchers have long struggled to make computers perform a task that is simple for humans: picking out one person’s speech when multiple...

Caution ­rged Over Editing Dna in Wildlife (intentionally or Not)
From ACM News

Caution ­rged Over Editing Dna in Wildlife (intentionally or Not)

"Crap!" That was the first word out of Kevin Esvelt’s mouth as he scanned a paper1 published inScience last March.

Crumb of Mouse Brain Reconstructed in Full Detail
From ACM News

Crumb of Mouse Brain Reconstructed in Full Detail

Six years might seem like a long time to spend piecing together the structure of a scrap of tissue vastly smaller than a bead of sweat.

Vibrant Pluto Stuns Scientists
From ACM News

Vibrant Pluto Stuns Scientists

They are 5 billion kilometres from the Sun in the dim, far-flung outskirts of the Solar System, but Pluto and its large moon Charon turn out to be astonishingly...

The 24/7 Search For Killer Quakes
From ACM News

The 24/7 Search For Killer Quakes

At 17 minutes past midnight on Saturday 25 April, Rob Sanders's computer started chiming with alerts.

Pluto Spacecraft Temporarily Loses Contact with Earth
From ACM News

Pluto Spacecraft Temporarily Loses Contact with Earth

Ten days before its historic flyby of Pluto, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft lost contact with mission control, for unknown reasons, for an hour and 21 minutes on...

Machine Ethics: The Robot's Dilemma
From ACM News

Machine Ethics: The Robot's Dilemma

In his 1942 short story 'Runaround', science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov introduced the Three Laws of Robotics—engineering safeguards and built-in ethical principles...

Computers Read the Fossil Record
From ACM News

Computers Read the Fossil Record

For a field whose raison d'être is to chronicle the deep past, palaeontology is remarkably forward-looking when it comes to organizing its data.

Pluto-Bound Probe Faces Its Toughest Task: Finding Pluto
From ACM News

Pluto-Bound Probe Faces Its Toughest Task: Finding Pluto

Some 4.7 billion kilometres from Earth, the New Horizons spacecraft is heading for a historic rendezvous with Pluto. To achieve this, it will need to hit a very...

Intriguing Geology of Ceres Revealed in New Pictures
From ACM News

Intriguing Geology of Ceres Revealed in New Pictures

Ceres, the largest asteroid in the Solar System, is finally getting its close-up. NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived in March, and is now taking photographs from as...

Europe's First Humans: What Scientists Do and Don't Know
From ACM News

Europe's First Humans: What Scientists Do and Don't Know

Over the past two years, breakthroughs in ancient genomics and archaeology have revolutionized the story of the first humans in Europe—who are thought to have appeared ...

Ancient American Genome Rekindles Legal Row
From ACM News

Ancient American Genome Rekindles Legal Row

The genome of a famous 8,500-year-old North American skeleton, known as Kennewick Man, shows that he is closely related to Native American tribes that have for...
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