Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2021
From ACM TechNews
Amazon Helping Researchers Study How to Dim the Sun
Amazon Web Services has donated cloud computing time to help climate scientists create simulations of the Earth from 2035 to 2070.
From ACM TechNews
Bots Talk Like Humans but Their Cloned Personalities Give Them Away
Researchers explored social spambots' behavior on social media, interaction with genuine accounts, and current bot technologies' capabilities.
From ACM TechNews
Critical Wormable Security Flaw Found in Several HP Printer Models
F-Secure Labs researchers reported two eight-year-old vulnerabilities affecting 150 HP multifunction printers could be exploited to commandeer target devices.
From ACM News
Car Hackers Could Drive You Off the Road (or They Might Settle for Money)
Automotive cybersecurity is a cat-and-mouse game, with the good guys and bad guys constantly chasing each other.
From ACM News
A Bitcoin Boom Fueled by Cheap Power, Empty Plants, and Few Rules
Cryptocurrency miners are flocking to New York's faded industrial towns, prompting concern over the environmental impact of huge computer farms.
From ACM News
Wave Goodbye to Window Washers
Robots are taking their jobs.
From ACM TechNews
Climate Change Data Deluge Sends Scientists Scrambling for Solutions
Scientists are racing to store, analyze, and preserve massive volumes of climate change data collected by sensor-equipped satellites, aircraft, and other instruments.
From ACM TechNews
Supermarkets Grapple with Checkout-Free Stores
J Sainsbury recently opened a checkout-free shop in London's Holborn district, where Amazon and Tesco also operate checkout-free stores.
From ACM TechNews
High-Speed Cell Holography Spots Beacons of Disease
Duke University scientists have engineered a holographic system that can image and analyze tens of thousands of cells per minute to identify disease indicators.
From ACM TechNews
Discovery Opens the Way for Brain-Like Computers
Researchers successfully combined a memory function with a calculation function in the same component.
From ACM News
How TikTok Reads Your Mind
It's the most successful video app in the world. An internal company document offers a new level of detail about how the algorithm works.
From ACM News
U.S. Military Has Acted Against Ransomware Groups
The head of Cyber Command said a new cross-functional effort has been gathering intelligence to combat criminal groups targeting U.S. infrastructure.
From ACM News
Twitter's New CEO Announces Major Reorganization
Engineering, design leads out as Parag Agrawal announces big changes.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Claim Big Advance in Using DNA to Store Data
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Georgia Tech Research Institute claim they can improve DNA data storage 100-fold with a new processor they developed.
From ACM TechNews
New Attacks on Web Browsers Detected
Information technology scientists detected 14 new types of Web browser-targeting cross-site leaks.
From ACM TechNews
South Korea Trials Robots in Preschools to Prepare Children for High-Tech Future
The South Korean government has launched trials of small robots in 300 nurseries and childcare centers in Seoul as teaching aids.
From ACM TechNews
Island Becomes Open-Air Lab for Tech-Savvy Volcanologists
Volcanologists are using cutting-edge technologies to study a rare volcanic eruption on La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands.
From ACM News
F.T.C. Sues to Stop Blockbuster Chip Deal Between Nvidia and Arm
The proposed deal would give Nvidia control over computing technology and designs on which rival firms rely.
From ACM News
Busted for Not Social Distancing by a COVID-19 Mobile Surveillance Robot
Surveillance robot could help reduce disease spread and also aid contact tracing.
From ACM News
Data in the Wild Might be Key to Better Public Health
"Social determinants of health have really come to the forefront in terms of who has been most greatly impacted."
From ACM TechNews
AI Has Learned to Read Time on Analog Clock
Artificial intelligence trained on computer-generated images of analog clocks captured at different angles learned to read the time.
From ACM TechNews
Shifting Colors for On-Chip Photonics
On-chip frequency shifters can convert light in the gigahertz frequency range using continuous and single-tone microwaves.
From ACM TechNews
Timber or Steel? Study Helps Builders Reduce Carbon Footprint of Truss Structures
Architects and engineers could design truss structures minimizing embodied carbon by using a new set of computational tools.
From ACM News
Those Cute Cats Online? They Help Spread Misinformation.
A mainstay of the Internet is regularly used to build audiences for people and organizations pushing false and misleading information.
From ACM News
Lawmakers Target Big Tech 'Amplification'
What does that mean?
From ACM News
Robotaxis Roaming Around Yokohama Are Winning Over Unlikely Fans
The Nissan demonstration is the largest of its type in Japan to date.
From ACM News
Facebook Reveals Broad Takedown of Global Disinformation Networks
The takedowns described in the company's monthly threat report demonstrate how the cat-and-mouse game between Facebook and bad actors is escalating.
From ACM News
AI Finds Superbug-Killing Potential in Human Proteins
A team scoured the human proteome for antimicrobial molecules and found thousands, plus a surprise about how animals evolved to fight infections.
From ACM News
Stanford's Simple New Quantum Computer Design: Photonic Computation in a Synthetic Time Dimension
A relatively simple quantum computer design that uses a single atom to manipulate photons could be constructed with currently available components.
From ACM TechNews
Creating 3D Maps with a Backpack
A researcher at the University of Twente in the Netherlands has developed a wearable mobile mapping system.