acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

News


Latest News News Archive Refine your search:
dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectSoftware
authorMIT News
bg-corner

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


Artificial-Intelligence Research Revives Its Old Ambitions
From ACM News

Artificial-Intelligence Research Revives Its Old Ambitions

The birth of artificial-intelligence research as an autonomous discipline is generally thought to have been the monthlong Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial...

Terramechanics Research Aims to Keep Mars Rovers Rolling
From ACM News

Terramechanics Research Aims to Keep Mars Rovers Rolling

In May 2009, the Mars rover Spirit cracked through a crusty layer of Martian topsoil, sinking into softer underlying sand.

Views You Can ­se? How Online Ratings Affect Your Judgment
From ACM News

Views You Can ­se? How Online Ratings Affect Your Judgment

Are you influenced by the opinions of other people—say, in the comments sections of websites?

Neuroscientists Plant False Memories in the Brain
From ACM News

Neuroscientists Plant False Memories in the Brain

The phenomenon of false memory has been well-documented: In many court cases, defendants have been found guilty based on testimony from witnesses and victims who...

Research Update: Genome Editing Becomes More Accurate
From ACM News

Research Update: Genome Editing Becomes More Accurate

Earlier this year, MIT researchers developed a way to easily and efficiently edit the genomes of living cells. Now, the researchers have discovered key factors...

Writing Programs Using Ordinary Language
From ACM News

Writing Programs Using Ordinary Language

In a pair of recent papers, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have demonstrated that, for a few specific tasks, it's...

New System ­ses Low-Power Wi-Fi Signal to Track Moving Humans—even Behind Walls
From ACM News

New System ­ses Low-Power Wi-Fi Signal to Track Moving Humans—even Behind Walls

The comic-book hero Superman uses his X-ray vision to spot bad guys lurking behind walls and other objects.

Seeing the Human Pulse
From ACM News

Seeing the Human Pulse

Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a new algorithm that can accurately measure the heart rates of people...

Automatically Grading Programming Homework
From ACM TechNews

Automatically Grading Programming Homework

Researchers have created software that points out inaccuracies in student programming and offers suggestions for improvement. 

Making Quantum Encryption Practical
From ACM News

Making Quantum Encryption Practical

One of the many promising applications of quantum mechanics in the information sciences is quantum key distribution (QKD) in which the counterintuitive behavior...

Valuing Versatility
From ACM News

Valuing Versatility

It's often said that we live in an age of increased specialization: physicians who treat just one ailment, scholars who study just one period, network administrators...

Practicing Medicine at the Nanoscale
From ACM News

Practicing Medicine at the Nanoscale

Modern medicine is largely based on treating patients with "small-molecule" drugs, which include pain relievers like aspirin and antibiotics such as penicillin.

Teaching Robots Lateral Thinking
From ACM News

Teaching Robots Lateral Thinking

Many commercial robotic arms perform what roboticists call "pick and place" tasks: The arm picks up an object in one location and places it in another.

Storing Data in Individual Molecules
From ACM News

Storing Data in Individual Molecules

Moore's law—the well-known doubling of computer chips' computational power every 18 months or so—has been paced by a similarly steady increase in the storage capacity...

Online Learning Tool Brings 'the Crowd' Into Homework Assignments
From ACM TechNews

Online Learning Tool Brings 'the Crowd' Into Homework Assignments

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed Caesar, a computer system designed to provide students with feedback on their homework assignments...

The Robotic Equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife
From ACM News

The Robotic Equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife

The device doesn't look like much: a caterpillar-sized assembly of metal rings and strips resembling something you might find buried in a home-workshop drawer.

Proving Quantum Computers Feasible
From ACM News

Proving Quantum Computers Feasible

Quantum computers are devices—still largely theoretical—that could perform certain types of computations much faster than classical computers; one way they might...

Predicting What Topics Will Trend on Twitter
From ACM News

Predicting What Topics Will Trend on Twitter

Twitter's home page features a regularly updated list of topics that are "trending," meaning that tweets about them have suddenly exploded in volume.

3 Questions: A Web For Everyone
From ACM Opinion

3 Questions: A Web For Everyone

During the opening ceremonies of this summer’s Olympic games in London, a musical performance culminated with a stage-set house rising into the rafters to reveal...

Mit's Csail Launches New Center to Tackle the Future of Wireless and Mobile Technologies
From ACM TechNews

Mit's Csail Launches New Center to Tackle the Future of Wireless and Mobile Technologies

MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory recently launched Wireless@MIT, an interdisciplinary center focused on developing next-generation...
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account