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Why the Search for Aliens Could ­nite ­s Here on Earth
From ACM Opinion

Why the Search for Aliens Could ­nite ­s Here on Earth

If aliens are trying to talk to us (or even if they are not), Jill Tarter will be the one to find them.

Blockchains Won't Fix Internet Voting Security, and Could Make It Worse
From ACM Opinion

Blockchains Won't Fix Internet Voting Security, and Could Make It Worse

Looking to modernize voting practices, speed waiting times at the polls, increase voter turnout and generally make voting more convenient, many government officials—and...

Evolution Is at Work in Computers as well as Life Sciences
From ACM Opinion

Evolution Is at Work in Computers as well as Life Sciences

Artificial intelligence research has a lot to learn from nature.

You're Expecting Too Much Out of Boston Dynamics' Robots
From ACM Opinion

You're Expecting Too Much Out of Boston Dynamics' Robots

At the WIRED25 festival in San Francisco Sunday evening, Boston Dynamics' SpotMini robot got onstage and did what no other quadruped robot has done before: It danced...

Jeff Hawkins Is Finally Ready to Explain His Brain Research
From ACM Opinion

Jeff Hawkins Is Finally Ready to Explain His Brain Research


A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is as Creepy as You Feared
From ACM Opinion

A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is as Creepy as You Feared

More than 40 years ago, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft with a vision for putting a personal computer on every desk.

How Do You Find an Alien Ocean? Margaret Kivelson Figured It Out
From ACM Opinion

How Do You Find an Alien Ocean? Margaret Kivelson Figured It Out

The data was like nothing Margaret Kivelson and her team of physicists ever expected.

How Sci-Fi Like WarGames Led to Real Policy During the Reagan Administration
From ACM Opinion

How Sci-Fi Like WarGames Led to Real Policy During the Reagan Administration

This year, John Badham's WarGames—one of the movies most beloved by hackers, techies, and tech policy wonks (like me!)—celebrates its 35th anniversary.

Why Do Computers ­se So Much Energy?
From ACM Opinion

Why Do Computers ­se So Much Energy?

Microsoft is currently running an interesting set of hardware experiments.

This Tech Would Have Spotted the Secret Chinese Chip in Seconds
From ACM Opinion

This Tech Would Have Spotted the Secret Chinese Chip in Seconds

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, spies in China managed to insert chips into computer systems that would allow external control of those systems.

Behind the Scenes of Japan's Daring Asteroid Mission
From ACM Opinion

Behind the Scenes of Japan's Daring Asteroid Mission

As Japan lands a third probe on Ryugu asteroid, Nature looks at the Hayabusa2 mission in more detail.

Will L.A.'s Anti-Terrorist Subway Scanners Be Adopted Everywhere?
From ACM Opinion

Will L.A.'s Anti-Terrorist Subway Scanners Be Adopted Everywhere?

In mid-August the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transportation Security Administration announced Metro has paid $100,000 each...

When Reporting on Defcon, Avoid Stereotypes and A.T.M.s
From ACM Opinion

When Reporting on Defcon, Avoid Stereotypes and A.T.M.s

As one of The New York Times's three Surfacing residents, I've grown accustomed to entering unfamiliar places.

Paper-Based Electronics Could Fold, Biodegrade and Be the Basis for the Next Generation of Devices
From ACM Opinion

Paper-Based Electronics Could Fold, Biodegrade and Be the Basis for the Next Generation of Devices

It seems like every few months there's a new cellphone, laptop or tablet that is so exciting people line up around the block to get their hands on it.

Former Google CEO Predicts the Internet Will Split in Two by 2028, and One Part Will Be Led by China
From ACM Opinion

Former Google CEO Predicts the Internet Will Split in Two by 2028, and One Part Will Be Led by China

Eric Schmidt, who has been the CEO of Google and executive chairman of its parent company, Alphabet, predicts that within the next decade there will be two distinct...

How America Could Lose the Quantum-Computing Race
From ACM Opinion

How America Could Lose the Quantum-Computing Race

There's an arms race underway to develop the next generation of computers—known as "quantum" computers—and there's no guarantee that the United States is going...

David Patterson Says It's Time for New Computer Architectures and Software Languages
From ACM Opinion

David Patterson Says It's Time for New Computer Architectures and Software Languages

David Patterson—University of California professor, Google engineer, and RISC pioneer—says there's no better time than now to be a computer architect.

In 1968, Computers Got Personal: How the 'Mother of All Demos' Changed the World
From ACM Opinion

In 1968, Computers Got Personal: How the 'Mother of All Demos' Changed the World

On a crisp California afternoon in early December 1968, a square-jawed, mild-mannered Stanford researcher named Douglas Engelbart took the stage at San Francisco's...

Ten Years of Large Hadron Collider Discoveries Are Just the Start of Decoding the ­niverse
From ACM Opinion

Ten Years of Large Hadron Collider Discoveries Are Just the Start of Decoding the ­niverse

Ten years! Ten years since the start of operations for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), one of the most complex machines ever created.

What is Cyberwar?
From ACM Opinion

What is Cyberwar?

At its core, cyberwarfare refers the use of digital attacks by one country or nation to disrupt the computer systems of another with the aim of create significant...
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