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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectComputer Applications
authorScientific American
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'glass Brain' Offers Tours of the Space Between Your Ears
From ACM Opinion

'glass Brain' Offers Tours of the Space Between Your Ears

Former Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart takes pride in his brain.

A Computer Scientist Tells Mathematicians How To Write Proofs
From ACM Opinion

A Computer Scientist Tells Mathematicians How To Write Proofs

Believe it or not, I do have friends who would describe themselves as not liking math, and every so often one of them will share this meme on Facebook: And then...

Visualizing 4-Dimensional Asteroids
From ACM Opinion

Visualizing 4-Dimensional Asteroids

One of the largest treasure troves of astronomical data comes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), an ongoing scan of the firmament that began 15 years ago...

The Case For Kill Switches in Military Weaponry
From ACM Opinion

The Case For Kill Switches in Military Weaponry

This summer the insurgent group ISIS captured the Iraqi city of Mosul—and along with it, three army divisions' worth of U.S.-supplied equipment from the Iraqi army...

Beyond Classic Brain Illustrations That Make ­S Drool
From ACM Opinion

Beyond Classic Brain Illustrations That Make ­S Drool

I threw down a bit of a challenge last month at the Association of Medical Illustrators Conference in Minnesota.

Quantum Chaos: After a Failed Speed Test, the D-Wave Debate Continues
From ACM Opinion

Quantum Chaos: After a Failed Speed Test, the D-Wave Debate Continues

How hard can it be to determine whether a computer works as promised?

Time Travel: Installing an Atomic Clock at 15,000 Feet
From ACM Opinion

Time Travel: Installing an Atomic Clock at 15,000 Feet

A few months ago I went to Cambridge, Mass. to check in with the Event Horizon Telescope crew and found Shep Doeleman, the project leader, fresh off the completion...

So Far, Big Data Is Small Potatoes
From ACM Opinion

So Far, Big Data Is Small Potatoes

Is Big Data going to revolutionize science and help us make a better world? Not based on what it's done so far.

Warp Drive Research Key to Interstellar Travel
From ACM Opinion

Warp Drive Research Key to Interstellar Travel

As any avid Star Trek fan can tell you, the eccentric physicist Zefram Cochrane invented the warp-drive engine in the year 2063.

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking
From ACM Opinion

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking

Many of us now expect our online activities to be recorded and analyzed, but we assume that the physical spaces we inhabit are different.

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking
From ACM Opinion

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking

Many of us now expect our online activities to be recorded and analyzed, but we assume the physical spaces we inhabit are different.

'net Neutrality' Ruling Opens Door For Two-Tiered Internet Market
From ACM Opinion

'net Neutrality' Ruling Opens Door For Two-Tiered Internet Market

An "Open Internet" became endangered this week at a time when the U.S. increasingly relies on Internet services to deliver everything from education to entertainment...

Why We Don't Trust Technology Companies
From ACM Opinion

Why We Don't Trust Technology Companies

Last October, T-Mobile made an astonishing announcement: from now on, when you travel internationally with a T-Mobile phone, you get free unlimited text messages...

7 Gadgets to Watch For in 2014
From ACM Opinion

7 Gadgets to Watch For in 2014

Turn an ordinary table into a touch screen, monitor your kids' whereabouts, and place the power of 3D printing in the palm of your hand—and there’s more.

How Microsoft's 1 Percenters Balance Basic Research with Short-Term Success
From ACM Opinion

How Microsoft's 1 Percenters Balance Basic Research with Short-Term Success

When Microsoft launched its research labs in 1991, the personal computer was just beginning to blossom into a worldwide phenomenon, thanks in no small part to Windows...

23andme Is Terrifying, But Not For the Reasons the Fda Thinks
From ACM Opinion

23andme Is Terrifying, But Not For the Reasons the Fda Thinks

If there's a gene for hubris, the 23andMe crew has certainly got it.

Will Ibm's Watson ­sher in a New Era of Cognitive Computing?
From ACM Opinion

Will Ibm's Watson ­sher in a New Era of Cognitive Computing?

Computers as we know them have are close to reaching an inflection point—the next generation is in sight but not quite within our grasp.

What Is 4d Printing?
From ACM Opinion

What Is 4d Printing?

The biggest breakthroughs in how we make things lie not in the technology to manipulate materials but in the materials themselves.

Intel Sees a Future Where We Will Form 'relationships' with Our Gadgets
From ACM Opinion

Intel Sees a Future Where We Will Form 'relationships' with Our Gadgets

Rugged individualists aside, many people find themselves increasingly connected not just to one another but also to the devices that make those connections possible...

How to Manage Your Digital Afterlife
From ACM Opinion

How to Manage Your Digital Afterlife

After their son's suicide, one Wisconsin couple was desperate for answers.
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