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
Terahertz Imaging on the Cheap
Terahertz imaging, which is already familiar from airport security checkpoints, has a number of other promising applications—from explosives detection to collision...
From ACM News
Computer System Automatically Solves Word Problems
Researchers in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, working with colleagues at the University of Washington, have developed a new computer...
From ACM News
New 'switch' Could Power Quantum Computing
Using a laser to place individual rubidium atoms near the surface of a lattice of light, scientists at MIT and Harvard University have developed a new method for...
From ACM Opinion
The Complexonaut
When he was in elementary school, Scott Aaronson, like many mathematically precocious kids of his generation, dreamed of making his own video games.
From ACM News
Orienteering For Robots
Suppose you're trying to navigate an unfamiliar section of a big city, and you’re using a particular cluster of skyscrapers as a reference point.
From ACM TechNews
Parallel Programming May Not Be So Daunting
Researchers plan to demonstrate an analytics technique suggesting that, in a wide range of real-word scenarios, lock-free algorithms can provide wait-free performance...
From ACM News
Soft Robotic Fish Moves Like the Real Thing
Soft robots—which don’t just have soft exteriors but are also powered by fluid flowing through flexible channels—have become a sufficiently popular research topic...
From ACM News
Self-Completing Programs
Since he was a graduate student, Armando Solar-Lezama, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been working...
From ACM News
Smarter Caching
Computer chips keep getting faster because transistors keep getting smaller.
From ACM TechNews
Herding Robots
Researchers say they have developed a system that combines existing robotic control programs to enable multiagent systems to collaborate in complex ways.
From ACM News
Herding Robots
Writing a program to control a single autonomous robot navigating an uncertain environment with an erratic communication link is hard enough; write one for multiple...
From ACM News
Marvin Minsky Honored For Lifetime Achievements in Artificial Intelligence
MIT Media Lab professor emeritus Marvin Minsky, 86, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award...
From ACM News
New Algorithm Can Dramatically Streamline Solutions to the 'max Flow' Problem
Finding the most efficient way to transport items across a network like the U.S. highway system or the Internet is a problem that has taxed mathematicians and computer...
From ACM TechNews
New Approach to Vertex Connectivity Could Maximize Networks' Bandwidth
Researchers say they have developed a technique for addressing vertex-connectivity problems.
From ACM News
New System Allows For High-Accuracy, Through-Wall, 3D Motion Tracking
Imagine playing a video game like Call of Duty or Battlefield and having the ability to lead your virtual army unit while moving freely throughout your house.
From ACM News
3-D Images, With Only One Photon Per Pixel
Lidar rangefinders, which are common tools in surveying and in autonomous-vehicle control, among other applications, gauge depth by emitting short bursts of laser...
From ACM News
'wise Chisels': Art, Craftsmanship, and Power Tools
It's often easy to tell at a glance the difference between a mass-produced object and one that has been handcrafted: The handmade item is likely to have distinctive...
From ACM News
How to Program Unreliable Chips
As transistors get smaller, they also become less reliable.
From ACM News
Big Plans For Small Spacecraft
It's hard to miss the rocket engine in Paulo Lozano's MIT office.
From ACM TechNews