Communications of the ACM
Saving Lives with Aerial Drones
Aerial drone swarms could self-assemble into hovering rescue platforms.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM Careers
Distracted Driver and Braking Error Cited in Autonomous Uber Car's Fatal Crash
More than a second before a self-driving car operated by Uber struck and killed a pedestrian in March, the vehicle's computer system determined it needed to brake...
From ACM TechNews
Computer Redesigns Enzyme
Biotechnologists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands used a computational method to convert aspartase to a catalyst for asymmetric hydroamination...
From Communications of the ACM
Getting Hooked on Tech
Are technology companies maximizing profits by making users addicted to their products?
From ACM TechNews
How AI and IoT Smart Sensors Are Preserving a Lake Ecosystem
Researchers have deployed a network composed of platforms, weather stations, tributary monitors, and acoustic Doppler current profiles to attain information on...
From ACM TechNews
'Virtual Safe Space' to Help Bumblebees
A "virtual safe space" tests the threats that face bumblebees.
From ACM TechNews
The Way Toddlers Waddle Can Teach Robot Footballers How to Play
A team of researchers has found that a team of robot football (soccer) players trained to mimic how infant humans walk can beat other robots trained on geometric...
From ACM News
New Toronto Declaration Calls on Algorithms to Respect Human Rights
"In a world of machine learning systems, who will bear accountability for harming human rights?"
From ACM News
What Is GDPR and How Will It Affect You?
You could be forgiven for thinking that Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law created to fill your inbox with identikit warnings from every...
From ACM TechNews
Eye Scanner Can Tell If You've Mastered a Foreign Language
A new algorithm monitors a person's unconscious eye movements as they read, to assess their proficiency in a foreign language.
From ACM News
To Build Truly Intelligent Machines, Teach Them Cause and Effect
Judea Pearl, a pioneering figure in artificial intelligence, argues that AI has been stuck in a decades-long rut. His prescription for progress? Teach machines...
From ACM News
Tech Firms Move to Put Ethical Guard Rails Around AI
One day last summer, Microsoft's director of artificial intelligence research, Eric Horvitz, activated the Autopilot function of his Tesla sedan.
From ACM TechNews
Robot Teaches Itself How to Dress People
A team of researchers says it has developed a robot that helps hospital patients slide on their gowns.
From ACM TechNews
How Can We Be Sure AI Will Behave? Perhaps by Watching It Argue With Itself
Researchers say having two artificial intelligence systems debate a particular goal could ensure that they behave reliably when executing complex functions.
From ACM Careers
Inside Google, a Debate Rages: Should It Sell Artificial Intelligence to the Military?
Last July, 13 U.S. military commanders and technology executives met at the Pentagon's Silicon Valley outpost, two miles from Google headquarters.
From ACM News
Critical PGP and S/MIME Bugs can Reveal Encrypted Emails—Uninstall Now
The flaws can expose emails sent in the past and "pose an immediate threat."
From ACM News
Why A.I. and Cryptocurrency Are Making One Type of Computer Chip Scarce
Two technology booms—some people might call them frenzies—are combining to turn a once-obscure type of microprocessor into a must-have but scarce commodity.
From ACM TechNews
Flying Beetle Cyborgs Guided With Tiny Battery-Powered Backpacks
Researchers in Singapore have developed cyborg flying beetles.
From ACM News
Are Human Brains Quantum Computers?
Research project could explain how memory, and the brain's biology, works.
From ACM News