Communications of the ACM: News

Alien lifeforms may exist in the solar system but they would look very different to life on Earth, scientists have suggested.

Light behaves both as a particle and as a wave. Since the days of Einstein, scientists have been trying to directly observe both of these aspects of light at the same time.

Each of the telescopes that the astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) are currently working to bring into their black-hole-observing, planet-size array is a special case.

A new wireless sensor prototype could reduce the costs of collecting data such as outside air and room temperature, humidity, light level, occupancy, and pollutants. 

The ninth annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC) was the biggest meeting yet of sports-data experts: More than 3,100 people attended the event last Friday and Saturday, including a notable number of 6-foot-8-inch former NBA forwards roaming around inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

An international research team has developed a prototype quantum radar that could be used to detect objects invisible to conventional systems. 

Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute recently hosted a seminar on the study of password security led by CMU professor Lorrie Cranor.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its historic orbit insertion at the dwarf planet Ceres.

The internet is stuffed with garbage.

Smartphones are about to get smarter, chip makers say, exploiting technologies that recognize people, objects and sounds to boost security and take helpful actions on behalf of users.

When it comes to the new Net neutrality rules adopted last week by the Federal Communications Commission, people think either that US regulators have liberated the Internet from the shackles of oppressive broadband providers or that they've turned the Internet, and the industry built around it, into an overregulated kludge.

A team from IBM last week traveled to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate new computer chips inspired by the structure of the brain. 

University of Connecticut researchers want to use quick response codes to protect national security. 

Indian Institute of Technology researchers have created a flavor network in which food ingredients are linked if they appear together in the same recipe. 

The lack of representation of women and minorities in the U.S. technology sector is a problem Obama administration chief technology officer Megan Smith wants to solve. 

Scientists at the University of Bristol have developed robotic pants with built-in artificial muscles designed to aid the elderly or people with disabilities. 

Oxford University researchers are developing situation-aware mobile robotic systems for use in diverse applications. 

University of Chicago researchers are studying natural language morphology in an attempt to develop computers that are better at understanding human language. 

A small group of high-ranking Pentagon officials made a quiet visit to Silicon Valley in December to solicit national security ideas from start-up firms with little or no history of working with the military.