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 TechNews
Why Scientists Are Delving into the Virtual World
A growing number of scientific researchers are using virtual reality (VR) technology in the lab, often to more easily collaborate with distant colleagues, or simply...
From ACM TechNews
TLDR: This AI Sums Up Research Papers in a Sentence
Software called TLDR (too long, didn't read) automatically produces one-sentence abstracts of research papers.
From ACM News
Challenge to Scientists: Does Your Ten-Year-Old Code Still Run?
Missing documentation and obsolete environments force participants in the Ten Years Reproducibility Challenge to get creative.
From ACM TechNews
Julia: Come for the Syntax, Stay for the Speed
The open-source Julia language combines the speed of "compiled" languages such as Fortran and C with the interactivity and syntax of "scripting" languages such...
From ACM News
Algorithms Spot Millions of California's Tiniest Quakes in Historical Data
When it comes to earthquakes, large, destructive ones dominate the headlines.
From ACM News
Mars Methane Hunt Comes p Empty, Flummoxing Scientists
A spacecraft that was supposed to solve the mystery of methane on Mars has instead compounded scientists' confusion.
From ACM News
Black Hole Pictured for First Time, in Spectacular Detail
Astronomers have finally glimpsed the blackness of a black hole. By stringing together a global network of radio telescopes, they have for the first time produced...
From ACM News
Japanese Space Probe Drops Explosive on Asteroid Ryugu
For the past year, space probe Hayabusa2 has pelted asteroid Ryugu with bouncing probes, shot a bullet at it, and taken a bite of it—all for science.
From ACM Opinion
AI Pioneer: 'The Dangers of Abuse Are Very Real'
Yoshua Bengio is one of three computer scientists who last week shared the US$1-million A. M. Turing award—one of the field's top prizes.
From ACM News
GPS Glitch Threatens Thousands of Scientific Instruments
Researchers worldwide are racing to get ahead of a bug in the US Global Positioning System (GPS) that could cause data loggers, including thousands of scientific...
From ACM Opinion
Beware of Plausible Predictions of Fantasy Materials
The hunt is on for materials that have exotic properties, to enhance quantum computers, touch screens and electronic displays, and to double the efficiency of solar...
From ACM News
Siberia's Ancient Ghost Clan Starts to Surrender Its Secrets
Samantha Brown didn't have high hopes when she opened the ziplock bag containing some 700 shards of bone. It would be a lot of work to analyse them and none was...
From ACM News
Four New DNA Letters Double Life's Alphabet
The DNA of life on Earth naturally stores its information in just four key chemicals—guanine, cytosine, adenine and thymine, commonly referred to as G, C, A and...
From ACM News
Japan's Hayabusa2 Craft Touches Down on Asteroid Ryugu
It was a brief but historic tap on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu, at 7:29 am Japan time on 22 February. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft touched down at its target...
From ACM News
Gravitational-Wave Observatory LIGO Set to Double Its Detecting Power
Spotting gravitational waves is due to become an almost hourly event in the next decade. Starting around 2023, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory...
From ACM News
Extreme Chemistry: Experiments at the Edge of the Periodic Table
If you wanted to create the world's next undiscovered element, number 119 in the periodic table, here's a possible recipe.
From ACM News
How Machine Learning Could Keep Dangerous DNA Out of Terrorists' Hands
Biologists the world over routinely pay companies to synthesize snippets of DNA for use in the laboratory or clinic.
From ACM News
Hidden History of the Milky Way Revealed by Extensive Star Maps
Last April, Amina Helmi felt goose bumps while driving to work in the northern Netherlands. It had nothing to do with the weather—it was pure anticipation. Just...
From ACM News
China Becomes First Nation to Land on the Moon's Far Side
A Chinese probe has made a historic touch-down on the far side of the Moon, according to the country's state-run media. It is the first time a probe has visited...
From ACM News