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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.


AI Just Learned How to Boost the Brain's Memory
From ACM News

AI Just Learned How to Boost the Brain's Memory

When it comes to black boxes, there is none more black than the human brain. Our gray matter is so complex, scientists lament, that it can't quite understand itself...

Inside Amazon's Artificial Intelligence Flywheel
From ACM Careers

Inside Amazon's Artificial Intelligence Flywheel

In early 2014, Srikanth Thirumalai met with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Your Sloppy Bitcoin Drug Deals Will Haunt You For Years
From ACM News

Your Sloppy Bitcoin Drug Deals Will Haunt You For Years

Perhaps you bought some illegal narcotics on the Silk Road half a decade ago, back when that digital black market for every contraband imaginable was still online...

DARPA Wants to Build an Image Search Engine Out of Dna
From ACM News

DARPA Wants to Build an Image Search Engine Out of Dna

Most people use Google's search-by-image feature to either look for copyright infringement, or for shopping.

Thank the Planet's Shifty Magnetic Poles For Runway Renaming
From ACM News

Thank the Planet's Shifty Magnetic Poles For Runway Renaming

For decades, pilots heading into or out of Wichita Eisenhower National Airport in southeast Kansas have had three runways to choose from: 1L/19R, 1R/19L, and 14...

A New Way to Track Down Bugs Could Help Save Iot
From ACM News

A New Way to Track Down Bugs Could Help Save Iot

On a clear day this summer, security researcher Ang Cui boarded a boat headed to a government biosafety facility off the northeastern tip of Long Island.

Nasa Just Proved It Can Navigate Space Using Pulsars. Where to Now?
From ACM News

Nasa Just Proved It Can Navigate Space Using Pulsars. Where to Now?

Half a century ago, astronomers observed their first pulsar: a dead, distant, ludicrously dense star that emitted pulses of radiation with remarkable regularity...

When Wi-Fi Won't Work, Let Sound Carry Your Data
From ACM News

When Wi-Fi Won't Work, Let Sound Carry Your Data

If you've ever struggled to pair your phone with a Bluetooth speaker or set up a wireless printer, you know that it's often easier to connect to a server halfway...

Triple Meltdown: How So Many Researchers Found a 20-Year-Old Chip Flaw At the Same Time
From ACM News

Triple Meltdown: How So Many Researchers Found a 20-Year-Old Chip Flaw At the Same Time

Four groups of researchers independently found the vulnerabilities behind the devastating Meltdown and Spectre attacks within months of each other.

A Critical Intel Flaw Breaks Basic Security For Most Computers
From ACM News

A Critical Intel Flaw Breaks Basic Security For Most Computers

One of the most basic premises of computer security is isolation: If you run somebody else's sketchy code as an untrusted process on your machine, you should restrict...

Physics Found Gravitational Waves. Now Come the Existential Questions
From ACM News

Physics Found Gravitational Waves. Now Come the Existential Questions

On September 14, 2015, at 3:50 AM Central time, a tiny vibration shuddered down the 2.5-mile-long arms of a massive machine in Livingston, Louisiana.

Researchers Fooled a Google AI Into Thinking a Rifle Was a Helicopter
From ACM News

Researchers Fooled a Google AI Into Thinking a Rifle Was a Helicopter

Tech giants love to tout how good their computers are at identifying what's depicted in a photograph.

'oumuamua Probably Isn't a Spaceship, But It Could Have Passengers
From ACM News

'oumuamua Probably Isn't a Spaceship, But It Could Have Passengers

Last Wednesday, at 3:45 pm, scientists from the Breakthrough Listen project trained the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia on 'Oumuamua—the mysterious, oblong...

The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin's Global Warming Problem
From ACM TechNews

The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin's Global Warming Problem

A recent report calculated that the global electricity consumption of bitcoin mining would exceed that of the U.S. by July 2019, and of the entire world by November...

Unprecedented Malware Targets Industrial Safety Systems in the Middle East
From ACM News

Unprecedented Malware Targets Industrial Safety Systems in the Middle East

Since Stuxnet first targeted and destroyed uranium enrichment centrifuges in Iran last decade, the cybersecurity world has waited for the next step in that digital...

It's Super Hard to Find Humans in the Fcc's Net Neutrality Comments
From ACM News

It's Super Hard to Find Humans in the Fcc's Net Neutrality Comments

The Federal Communications Commissions''public comment period on its plans to repeal net neutrality protections was bombarded with bots, memes, and input from people...

Google Is Giving Away AI That Can Build Your Genome Sequence
From ACM News

Google Is Giving Away AI That Can Build Your Genome Sequence

Today, a teaspoon of spit and a hundred bucks is all you need to get a snapshot of your DNA. But getting the full picture—all 3 billion base pairs of your genome—requires...

The Genesis of Kuri, the Friendly Home Robot
From ACM News

The Genesis of Kuri, the Friendly Home Robot

Over the course  of thousands of years, dogs have evolved alongside humans to be awesome.

These Neurons Are Alive and Firing. And You Can Watch Them in 3-D
From ACM News

These Neurons Are Alive and Firing. And You Can Watch Them in 3-D

For patients with epilepsy, or cancerous brain lesions, sometimes the only way to forward is down.

It Takes Just $1,000 to Track Someone's Location with Mobile Ads
From ACM News

It Takes Just $1,000 to Track Someone's Location with Mobile Ads

When you consider the nagging privacy risks of online advertising, you may find comfort in the thought of a vast, abstract company like Pepsi or Nike viewing you...
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