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dateMore Than a Year Ago
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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.


How Nasa's Next Big Telescope Could Take Pictures of Another Earth
From ACM News

How Nasa's Next Big Telescope Could Take Pictures of Another Earth

Can NASA's next big space telescope take a picture of an alien Earth-like planet orbiting another star?

Scott Aaronson Answers Every Ridiculously Big Question I Throw at Him
From ACM Opinion

Scott Aaronson Answers Every Ridiculously Big Question I Throw at Him

Scott Aaronson has one of the highest intelligence/pretension ratios I’ve ever encountered.

Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?
From ACM News

Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?

If you, me and every person and thing in the cosmos were actually characters in some giant computer game, we would not necessarily know it.

Mysterious Gravitational Tug on Orbiter May Help Find Planet Nine
From ACM News

Mysterious Gravitational Tug on Orbiter May Help Find Planet Nine

The hunt is on to find "Planet Nine"—a large undiscovered world, perhaps 10 times as massive as Earth and four times its size—that scientists think could be lurking...

Pentagon Paying Techies to Think Like Terrorists
From ACM Careers

Pentagon Paying Techies to Think Like Terrorists

To stop a terrorist, it helps to think like one.

The ­.s. Government Launches a $100-Million 'apollo Project of the Brain'
From ACM News

The ­.s. Government Launches a $100-Million 'apollo Project of the Brain'

Three decades ago, the U.S. government launched the Human Genome Project, a 13-year endeavor to sequence and map all the genes of the human species.

Exoplanet Census Suggests Earth Is Special After All
From ACM News

Exoplanet Census Suggests Earth Is Special After All

More than 400 years ago Renaissance scientist Nicolaus Copernicus reduced us to near nothingness by showing that our planet is not the center of the solar system...

Gps and the World's First 'space War'
From ACM News

Gps and the World's First 'space War'

Twenty-five years ago U.S.-led Coalition forces launched the world’s first "space war" when they drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.

Deciphering the Language of the Brain
From ACM News

Deciphering the Language of the Brain

Understanding how brains work is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our times, but despite the impression sometimes given in the popular press, researchers...

Wikipedia Turns 15
From ACM Opinion

Wikipedia Turns 15

It must be difficult for the roughly half a billion people who visit Wikipedia every month to remember a world without the free online encyclopedia.

Nasa and the ­.s. Air Force Test a New Ground-Based Gps
From ACM News

Nasa and the ­.s. Air Force Test a New Ground-Based Gps

Anyone who has struggled to pinpoint his or her location in a mall, airport or urban canyon amid skyscrapers has experienced a GPS gap firsthand.

'improving' Humans with Customized Genes Sparks Argument Among Scientists
From ACM News

'improving' Humans with Customized Genes Sparks Argument Among Scientists

"Today we sense we are close to be being able to alter human heredity," Nobel Laureate and California Institute of Technology virologist David Baltimore said December...

The Most Important Number in Climate Change
From ACM News

The Most Important Number in Climate Change

The furious majesty of a thunderstorm defies computer simulation.

A Quick Guide to the Cybersecurity Bill Passed By the ­.s. Senate
From ACM News

A Quick Guide to the Cybersecurity Bill Passed By the ­.s. Senate

After more than a year of bickering, stalling and revising, the Senate passed its most significant cybersecurity bill to date 74–21.

Searching For Life in Martian Water Will Be Very, Very Tricky
From ACM Opinion

Searching For Life in Martian Water Will Be Very, Very Tricky

NASA scientists announced today the best evidence yet that Mars, once thought dry, sterile and dead, may yet have life in it: Liquid water still flows on at least...

Robotic Limbs Get a Sense of Touch
From ACM News

Robotic Limbs Get a Sense of Touch

Advanced prosthetics have for the past few years begun tapping into brain signals to provide amputees with impressive new levels of control.

The Milky Way's Missing Mass: Partially Found
From ACM News

The Milky Way's Missing Mass: Partially Found

Giant galaxies such as the Milky Way and Andromeda consist mostly of exotic dark matter.

­sing Technology to Break the Speed Barrier of Reading
From ACM Opinion

­sing Technology to Break the Speed Barrier of Reading

I grew up in a tiny New York City apartment, packed in alongside our four cats and my father's immense personal library of some 3000 books.

"molecular Tweeting" Could Hold the Key to Busting Superbugs
From ACM TechNews

"molecular Tweeting" Could Hold the Key to Busting Superbugs

Researchers are using the metaphor of Twitter to help them better understand the ways communication among bacteria can lead to antibiotic resistance. 

Search For Alien Life Ignites Battle Over Giant Telescope
From ACM News

Search For Alien Life Ignites Battle Over Giant Telescope

There is a gaping hole in the latest effort to reinvigorate the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), one so big it could hold an estimated 357 million...
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