Communications of the ACM
An 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
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...
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.
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...
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...
From ACM Careers
U.s. 'export Rules' Threaten Research
The U.S. government is considering policy changes that could dramatically affect how researchers handle equipment and information that have national-security implications...
From ACM News
The Pentagon's Gamble on Brain Implants, Bionic Limbs and Combat Exoskeletons
When Geoffrey Ling talks about the future of technology, his ideas go flying around the room like a whirlwind.
From ACM News
Image Software Spots Links in Tattoo Ink
In an unusual twist on biometrics research, US computer scientists have joined with law-enforcement officials to find new ways to automatically detect tattoos on...
From ACM Careers
Crispr, the Disruptor
Three years ago, Bruce Conklin came across a method that made him change the course of his lab.
From ACM News
Military Technology: Laser Weapons Get Real
Silently, the drone aircraft glides above the arid terrain of New Mexico—until it suddenly pivots out of control and plummets to the ground.
From ACM News
.s. Science Academies Take On Human-Genome Editing
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) will launch a major initiative to develop guidelines for editing human genomes...
From ACM News
The Trouble with Reference Rot
The scholarly literature is meant to be a permanent record of science.
From ACM Careers
Nih Reiterates Ban on Editing Human Embryo Dna
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reaffirmed its ban on research that involves gene editing of human embryos. In a statement released on 29 April,...
From ACM News
Ethics of Embryo Editing Paper Divides Scientists
In the wake of the first ever report that scientists have edited the genomes of human embryos, experts cannot agree on whether the work was ethical. They also disagree...
From ACM News
Rule Rewrite Aims to Clean Up Scientific Software
The finding seemed counterintuitive: warming in North America was driving plant species to lower elevations—not towards higher, cooler climes, as ecologists had...
From ACM News
Extreme Cryptography Paves Way to Personalized Medicine
The dream for tomorrow's medicine is to understand the links between DNA and disease—and to tailor therapies accordingly.
From ACM News
Dna Mutation Clock Proves Tough to Set
Mathematicians keep refining π even though they know it to more than 12 trillion digits; physicists beat themselves up because they cannot pin down the gravitational...
From ACM Careers
Mistrust and Meddling nsettles .s. Science Agency
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has had a tough couple of years.
From ACM News
Mediators Call For Change to Science of Human Brain Project
Mediators appointed to analyse the rifts within Europe’s ambitious €1-billion (US$1.1 billion) Human Brain Project (HBP) have called for far-reaching changes both...
From ACM News
Physics in Finance: Trading at the Speed of Light
Financial traders are in a race to make transactions ever faster.
From ACM News