Welcome to the April 22, 2020 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.
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U.K. Parliament Votes to Continue Democracy by Zoom
The Washington Post
William Booth
April 21, 2020
U.K. lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously voted to hold a "virtual Parliament" to maintain the machinery of democracy via the Zoom videoconferencing platform, while observing social-distancing mandates during the coronavirus pandemic. In the weeks and perhaps months ahead, Parliament will debate legislation and scrutinize the executive in weekly "Prime Minister's Questions" through new "hybrid proceedings." This so-called Zoom Parliament will query the prime minister from their homes. Voting also will take place remotely, but until balloting can be managed without threat of glitch or hack, the government said it would introduce only legislation that would pass by overwhelming consent, meaning that no paper balloting would be necessary, just a virtual shout of "aye" or "no."
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France Says Apple Bluetooth Policy Is Blocking Virus Tracker
Bloomberg
Helene Fouquet; Mark Gurman
April 20, 2020
France said Apple's Bluetooth policy is delaying a government contact-tracing application designed to contain the coronavirus. Apple's operating system prevents contact-tracing apps employing Bluetooth from constantly running in the background if that data is going to be moved off the device. French digital minister Cedric O said this constraint, designed to protect user privacy, is hindering the virus tracker that France aims to deploy when the country starts lifting restrictions on movement. Apple and Google are creating their own technology for contact-tracing apps, which uses smartphones' Bluetooth connections and lets users retain data on their handsets. France and the European Union prefer to feed the data to a central server overseen by state health services, which would notify users if they come into contact with a person infected by the virus; however, more than 300 academics in more than 20 countries endorsed the approach of Apple and Google.
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Australia's Fire Season Ends, Researchers Look to the Next One
The New York Times
Helen Sullivan
April 21, 2020
The effectiveness of many technologies being developed to cope with wildfires in Australia hinges on the ability to predict how fuel types like eucalyptus trees will impact a given fire. The Phoenix RapidFire software models this based on data provided by regional teams close to the fires. Simon Heemstra of the New South Wales Fire Service noted that analysts are able to incorporate the uncertainty inherent in fire behavior, something “the computer just isn't able to grasp.” Phoenix excels in analyzing several fires at once and determining which poses the greatest risk. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has developed software called Spark in a bid to improve upon Phoenix by using unique equations for different fuel types.
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Wolfram, Modeling Our Universe, Needs Your Help
Popular Mechanics
Courtney Linder
April 16, 2020
Physicist Stephen Wolfram has launched the Wolfram Physics Project to crowdsource research to model the universe's fundamental physical laws. The project incorporates “the most important works in physics,” including 800 pages of documents Wolfram authored, and 430 hours of video documenting brainstorming sessions between Wolfram and his colleagues. Wolfram and project participants will use computational models to simulate possible universes. The project webpage lists a Registry of Notable Universes compiling about 1,000 rules for the project. Said Wolfram, “I hope soon there might just be a rule entered in the Registry that has all the right properties, and that we’ll slowly discover that, yes, this is it—our universe finally decoded."
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Microsoft Throws Weight Behind Open Data Movement
Financial Times
Richard Waters
April 21, 2020
Microsoft has announced its support for the open data movement, urging governments and companies worldwide to share more data to ensure “digital power” is not concentrated in the U.S., China, and a handful of major technology companies. Microsoft pledged to make some of its own data available more widely, while developing standardized tools and legal frameworks to help others do the same. Microsoft president Brad Smith said the latest artificial intelligence innovations have raised the stakes, giving rise to "a looming data divide" that threatens to leave behind countries and companies with less access to data. Microsoft’s Jennifer Yokohama said the company is working on a shareable “live repository of best practices and resources,” along with “proof of concept initiatives to demonstrate how we can do open data better to really solve key societal challenges.”
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Rus Named to White House Science Council
MIT News
Adam Conner-Simons
April 21, 2020
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Daniela Rus has been selected to serve on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Rus is director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and deputy dean of research for the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. She works in robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and data science, focusing on developing the science and engineering of autonomy with the long-term goal of developing machines that can integrate into daily life to support cognitive and physical tasks. Said Rus, “I'm grateful to be able to add my perspective as a computer scientist to this group at a time when so many issues involving AI and other aspects of computing raise important scientific and policy questions for the nation and the world."
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Mind Over Body: Improving Brain-Computer Interfaces
Pittwire
April 20, 2020
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are advancing brain-computer interface technology to help improve the lives of amputees using neural prosthetics. The team has developed direct pathways from the brain to external devices, and recorded neural activity with electrodes to permit its use for control algorithms. The brain-computer interface continually readjusts itself to guarantee the system is always in calibration and ready to use. The control algorithm essentially learns how to adjust to the noise and instability of neural recording interfaces. The results of testing suggest that humans attempting to master a new skill must create new neural activity patterns.
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AI Taught to Instantly Transform Objects in Image-Editing Software
New Scientist
Donna Lu
April 16, 2020
A team of researchers from NVIDIA, Adobe Research, and Aalto University in Finland has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-controlled program that lets the user transform the shape of objects in images, as well as permitting adjustments to lighting and perspective. The researchers built the program using generative adversarial networks (GANs), which are made up of two competing AIs: a generator that creates an image, and a discriminator that decides whether the image is real or fake. After several rounds, the generator can produce images so realistic that the discriminator can no longer tell the difference. The team analyzed existing GANs to determine the way they each modify images into components. The program provides a simple yet powerful way to create images with existing AIs, without the massive computational requirements to train new algorithms for specific tasks.
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Walking Robot Uses Neural Net to Change Gaits
New Atlas
Ben Coxworth
April 15, 2020
Researchers at the universities of Seville and Cádiz in Spain have created a small robot that can quickly transition between different walking gaits using an integrated artificial neural network. The NeuroPod is a three-dimensionally (3D) printed, six-legged robot with an onboard microprocessor that incorporates 30 artificial neurons. In response to electronic stimuli from an adjacent hard-wired computer, the neurons send commands to the 18 servomotors that control the robot's legs. The NeuroPod can instantly and smoothly switch between walking, trotting, and running gaits when those signals are received. The researchers plan to equip the robot with visual and auditory sensors so it can respond to cues from its environment.
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UCLA Engineers Develop Simpler, Faster Way to Build Complex, Better-Performing 3D Electronics
UCLA Samueli Newsroom
April 20, 2020
Engineers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Samueli School of Engineering have developed a faster, simpler method for three-dimensionally (3D)-printing electronics, shortening fabrication times from hours to minutes. The researchers patterned 3D shapes with pre-programmed electrostatic charges in an optical 3D printer, then dipped printed components into a solution with a dissolved material, like copper; the material cohered into desired configurations within seconds. UCLA's Xiaoyu Zheng said the new method “can open the door to integrating new classes of 3D electronics, such as lighter, more compact antennas for the next generation of smart phones and 5G communications, or new classes of sensors and smart materials for wearables."
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Dynamic Coupling Between Neuronal, Neurotransmitter Systems Explains the Effects of Psilocybin
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain)
April 14, 2020
Researchers at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain, the University of Oxford and Imperial College London in the U.K., and academic institutions in Germany, Denmark, Portugal, and the U.S. collectively developed a computational biophysical model of the human brain in order to explain the effect of the psychoactive substance psilocybin on brain activity. The model combines medical imaging data on anatomical structural connectivity, functional neuronal dynamics, and a map outlining serotonin receptor concentration in different brain regions. The researchers said the model addresses the paradoxical flexibility of brain function in the context of a fixed anatomical structure.
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China Rolls Out Pilot Test of Digital Currency
The Wall Street Journal
Jonathan Cheng; Grace Zhu
April 20, 2020
The People's Bank of China has rolled out a digital currency across four cities—Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Xiong'an—in a pilot program. The cryptocurrency, presently designated digital currency/electronic payment (DC/EP), has features in common with bitcoin and Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency. China's central bankers said DC/EP is designed to replace some of the country's cash in circulation, while bank deposits and balances held by privately run payment platforms will remain intact. The government instructed civil servants in Suzhou's Xiangcheng district to begin installing an app on their smartphones this month into which the cryptocurrency would be transferred, covering half their transport subsidy. China's central bank has said transitioning to a government-run digital payment system will help counter money laundering, gambling, and terror financing, and improve the transaction efficiency of China’s financial system.
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Programming Languages: Kotlin Rises Fastest but JavaScript Lures Millions More Developers
ZDNet
Liam Tung
April 17, 2020
There are currently more than 20.4 million active software developers in the world, and more than 50% of them are learning JavaScript or Microsoft's JavaScript superset language, TypeScript, according to developer analyst SlashData. More than 17,000 developers in 159 countries were surveyed by SlashData between November 2019 and February 2020 as part of its 18th Developers Economics report. The firm estimates there are now 12.2 million developers worldwide using JavaScript, including 3 million who joined the JavaScript community in the past two years. SlashData also says there are now approximately 8.4 million Python developers, and 8.2 million Java developers. The company said Kotlin has been the fastest-growing language over the past two years, a trend likely linked to the fact that Google designated it as the preferred language for Android development.
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Computer Scientists Create a 'Laboratory' to Improve Streaming Video
Stanford Engineering
Andrew Myers
April 17, 2020
Stanford University computer scientists have developed an algorithm that improves streaming video technology by using machine learning to enable real-time scrutiny of data flow to reduce glitches and stalls. Stanford's Keith Winstein supervised a team of researchers that pulled in, compressed, and streamed over-the-air broadcast signals viewed by volunteers, while monitoring the data stream using their Fugu machine learning algorithm and four competing algorithms. The contenders were trained to adjust performance based on the quality conditions the viewers were experiencing. Fugu outperformed the other algorithms in terms of least interruption time, highest image resolution, and video-quality consistency, and viewers watched Fugu-fed video streams 5% to 9% longer than other algorithms' streams. Winstein said, "We've found some surprising ways in which the real world differs from simulation, and how machine learning can sometimes produce misleading results."
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