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


Synthetic Biology Lures Silicon Valley Investors
From ACM Careers

Synthetic Biology Lures Silicon Valley Investors

In 2012, Emily Leproust was trying to raise money to start Twist Bioscience, a company that aimed to synthesize DNA more quickly and more cheaply than existing...

Artificial-Intelligence Institute Launches Free Science Search Engine
From ACM News

Artificial-Intelligence Institute Launches Free Science Search Engine

With Google Scholar, PubMed, and other free academic databases at their fingertips, scientists may feel they have plenty of resources to trawl through the ever-growing...

The Future of Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Beyond
From ACM News

The Future of Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Beyond

When the digital currency Bitcoin came to life in January 2009, it was noticed by almost no one apart from the handful of programmers who followed cryptography...

­se of Personalized Cancer Drugs Runs Ahead of the Science
From ACM News

­se of Personalized Cancer Drugs Runs Ahead of the Science

As the costs of genetic sequencing fall, oncologists are starting to prescribe expensive new drugs that target the genetic profiles of their patients' tumours,...

The Revolution Will Not Be Crystallized: A New Method Sweeps Through Structural Biology
From ACM News

The Revolution Will Not Be Crystallized: A New Method Sweeps Through Structural Biology

In a basement room, deep in the bowels of a steel-clad building in Cambridge, a major insurgency is under way.

Online Security Braces For Quantum Revolution
From ACM News

Online Security Braces For Quantum Revolution

Encryption fix begins in preparation for arrival of futuristic computers.

Giant Study Poses Dna-Sharing Dilemma
From ACM News

Giant Study Poses Dna-Sharing Dilemma

After dozens of unsuccessful treatments, Eric Dishman started to suspect that his illness was due to something other than the rare kidney cancer he was diagnosed...

Biohackers Gear ­p For Genome Editing
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...

Caution ­rged Over Editing Dna in Wildlife (intentionally or Not)
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.

Crumb of Mouse Brain Reconstructed in Full Detail
From ACM News

Crumb of Mouse Brain Reconstructed in Full Detail

Six years might seem like a long time to spend piecing together the structure of a scrap of tissue vastly smaller than a bead of sweat.

Hacked Molecular Machine Could Pump Out Custom Proteins
From ACM News

Hacked Molecular Machine Could Pump Out Custom Proteins

By hijacking the cellular machinery that makes proteins, bioengineers have developed a tool that could allow them to better understand protein synthesis, explore...

Neanderthals Had Outsize Effect on Human Biology
From ACM News

Neanderthals Had Outsize Effect on Human Biology

Our ancestors were not a picky bunch.

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Gets a $100-Million Boost
From ACM News

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Gets a $100-Million Boost

You could say that the silence has been deafening.

The 24/7 Search For Killer Quakes
From ACM News

The 24/7 Search For Killer Quakes

At 17 minutes past midnight on Saturday 25 April, Rob Sanders's computer started chiming with alerts.

Machine Ethics: The Robot's Dilemma
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...

Computers Read the Fossil Record
From ACM News

Computers Read the Fossil Record

For a field whose raison d'être is to chronicle the deep past, palaeontology is remarkably forward-looking when it comes to organizing its data.

Europe's First Humans: What Scientists Do and Don't Know
From ACM News

Europe's First Humans: What Scientists Do and Don't Know

Over the past two years, breakthroughs in ancient genomics and archaeology have revolutionized the story of the first humans in Europe—who are thought to have appeared ...

Ancient American Genome Rekindles Legal Row
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...

U.s. 'export Rules' Threaten Research
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...

The Pentagon's Gamble on Brain Implants, Bionic Limbs and Combat Exoskeletons
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.
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