Welcome to the August 26, 2022, edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.
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White House Pushes Journals to Drop Paywalls on Publicly Funded Research
The New York Times
Vimal Patel
August 25, 2022
The White House has directed academic journals to provide immediate access to research that is publicly funded, ending a policy that allowed publishers to keep journals behind a paywall for a year. The directive also requires publications to be made available in machine-readable format, to guarantee their use and reuse. The U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy said the directive could potentially save lives and benefit the public in key areas. Proponents of open-research access called the guidance "transformational" for scientists and the wider public, while the Open Research Funders Group's Greg Tananbaum said the policy "broadens the circle of science. It broadens the conversation."
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Computer Runs Calculations Depending on How You Squish It
New Scientist
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
August 24, 2022
Pennsylvania State University's Ryan Harne and colleagues built a soft computer from rows of rubber blocks that performs different calculations based on how it is squished. Lines of a silver-rubber compound run through the blocks, and different block configurations operate like different circuits. The researchers configured one version to add two numbers by squishing the component blocks to the left or to the right; a connected digital display showed the result. They also assembled squishy computers that could multiply two numbers or compare them to ascertain which is greater. The University of Colorado Boulder's Ryan Hayward said this development could lead to soft robots that make decisions based on what they touch in their surroundings.
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Super-Fast Electric Car Charging, with Tailor-Made Touch
American Chemical Society
August 22, 2022
Idaho National Laboratory researchers used machine learning to develop fast-charging methods for electric vehicle batteries that do not damage the batteries or reduce their lifespans. The researchers trained the machine learning model using data on the condition of different lithium-ion batteries during their charging/discharging cycles; the data for each battery model then was used to identify and optimize new charging protocols, which were tested on real batteries. Said Idaho National Laboratory's Eric Dufek, "We've significantly increased the amount of energy that can go into a battery cell in a short amount of time. Currently, we're seeing batteries charge to over 90% in 10 minutes without lithium plating or cathode cracking."
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Experimental Attack Can Steal Data from Air-Gapped Computers
TechCrunch
Carly Page
August 24, 2022
Security researcher Mordechai Guri at Israel's Ben Gurion University identified an experimental exploit for stealing data from Internet-disconnected computers. Guri said the Gairoscope attack uses a smartphone's gyroscope to exfiltrate information from air-gapped computers just "a few meters away." He said an attacker monitoring sounds emanating from the speakers of the air-gapped system could gain data like passwords or login credentials. Guri said these inaudible frequencies generate "tiny mechanical oscillations within the smartphone's gyroscope," which can be rendered as readable data. In addition, he said, attackers could conduct the exploit using a mobile browser, since phone gyroscopes can be accessed using JavaScript. Suggested countermeasures include removing loudspeakers from air-gapped systems to create an audio-less networking environment, and screening resonant frequencies produced by the audio hardware through an audio filter.
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Remote Heart Rate Sensors Can be Biased Against Darker Skin
UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
August 24, 2022
The University of California, Los Angeles' Achuta Kadambi said because remote heart rate sensors have difficulty reading blood flow-related color changes in people with darker skin, he and his colleagues developed a remote diagnostic method that is not hampered by difference in skin color. The researchers found higher levels of the skin pigment melanin interfere with the photoplethysmography signal that camera-based remote heart rate measurements use, so the team's solution combines a camera with radar (and uses machine learning to coordinate the two) to detect subtle shifts in the displacement of the chest from heartbeats. Said Kadambi, "This work shows that practical and innovative engineering solutions can address persistent biases in medical devices."
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Computer Simulation Methods Help Speed Search for Carbon Capture Materials
U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology
August 24, 2022
Scientists at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology are using computer modeling to investigate the potential of hypothetical direct air capture materials to remove carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere. The researchers are using simulations to rapidly screen materials for the right combination of elements to enable scalability, and are developing more-efficient computational modeling methods to speed the research. The researchers' computer models calculate a potential capture material's attraction to CO 2 relative to other atmospheric gases, and produce molecular-scale images of its carbon capture mechanisms. The simulations combine physical rules with statistical techniques to forecast the direction in which CO 2 molecules would move when coming into contact with a capture material.
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AI-Enabled Optical Fiber Sensor Could Help Monitor Brain Injury
Imperial College London (U.K.)
Caroline Brogan
August 22, 2022
Researchers at the U.K.'s Imperial College London and China's Sichuan University have developed an artificial intelligence-powered fiber-optic sensor to measure multiple traumatic brain injury (TBI) biomarkers simultaneously. The device uses machine learning algorithms trained on previous data to monitor pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and glucose levels, and to anticipate biomarker concentrations. A flexible silica-based optical fiber is inserted into brain tissue to monitor cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), while four sensing films attached to the fiber's tip quantify concentrations of each biomarker. Said Imperial College’s Yubing Hu, “Our promising results indicate both accurate biomarker monitoring and precise predictions of injury progression which, after further development, could help clinicians monitor both patients’ brain health and response to treatment.”
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5G Networks Are Worryingly Hackable
IEEE Spectrum
Edd Gent
August 24, 2022
German security researchers determined 5G networks can be hacked, having breached and hijacked live networks in a series of "red teaming" exercises. Poorly configured cloud technology made the exploits possible, they said, and Karsten Nohl at Germany's Security Research Labs cited a failure to implement basic cloud security. He suggested telecommunications companies may be taking shortcuts that could prevent 5G networks' "containers" from functioning properly. The emergence of 5G has escalated demand for virtualization, especially for radio access networks that link end-user devices to the network core. Nohl said 5G networks respond to the greater complexity with more automated network management, which makes exploitation easier.
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AI-Based Method Dates Archaeological Remains
Lund University (Sweden)
August 23, 2022
An international team led by researchers at Sweden's Lund University have leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a method of dating archaeological human remains. The Temporal Population Structure (TPS) method uses AI to date genomes that are up to 10,000 years old via their DNA. The study used TPS to date around 5,000 human remains from the Late Mesolithic period (10,000 to 8,000 BC) to the modern day, with high accuracy. Lund University's Eran Elhaik said radiocarbon dating, the standard dating method uses since the 1950s, “can be very unstable and is affected by the quality of the material being examined. Our method is based on DNA, which makes it very solid. Now we can seriously begin to trace the origins of ancient people and map their migration routes."
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Scanning Students' Homes During Remote Testing Is Unconstitutional, Judge Says
Ars Technica
Ashley Belanger
August 23, 2022
An Ohio judge has ruled that scanning students' rooms during remote testing amounts to an invasion of privacy and a violation of the Fourth Amendment's guaranteed protection against unlawful searches. The case was filed by Cleveland State University student Aaron Ogletree, who alleged confidential tax documents were visible during a room scan recording made prior to a chemistry exam, and shared with other students. Said Judge J. Philip Calabrese, "Though schools may routinely employ remote technology to peer into houses without objection from some, most, or nearly all students, it does not follow that others might not object to the virtual intrusion into their homes or that the routine use of a practice such as room scans does not violate a privacy interest that society recognizes as reasonable, both factually and legally."
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Can Technology Help Cities Manage Curbs Better?
The New York Times
John Surico
August 24, 2022
Many cities have turned to technology for curbside management, analyzing curb space and the changing needs of a street by the day or hour to reduce traffic, lower carbon emissions, and spur the use of greener modes of transportation. Platform provider Populus uses GPS to assemble data on where and when vehicles are parked, and parking patterns over time. The system generates maps that help cities visualize where curb regulations should be changed based on demand, indicating where commercial loading zones or bike lanes, for instance, are needed. Meanwhile, Raleigh, NC-based Vade installs wireless solar-powered cameras on poles to capture images of the curb every 30 seconds, then uses artificial intelligence to analyze the images to generate data about curbside activity. Additionally, companies like Pebble use sensors and mobile apps to help drivers locate open parking spaces on urban streets.
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Deep Learning Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton Receives Royal Medal
U of T News (Canada)
Chris Sasaki
August 24, 2022
The Royal Society awarded the Royal Medal to ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient Geoffrey Hinton at Canada's University of Toronto for his groundbreaking work in deep learning. The U.K.'s national academy of sciences said Hinton earned the medal for "pioneering work on algorithms that learn distributed representations in artificial neural networks and their application to speech and vision, leading to a transformation of the international information technology industry." In 1986, Hinton and his collaborators created deep learning based on the backpropagation algorithm, a core learning mechanism for artificial neural networks. Said Hinton, “I believe that the spectacular recent progress in large language models, image generation and protein structure prediction is evidence that the deep learning revolution has only just started.”
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Faster Way to Study 2D Materials for Next-Generation Quantum, Electronic Devices
Berkeley Lab News Center
August 25, 2022
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a faster approach for studying two-dimensional materials for use in next-generation quantum and electronic devices. Berkeley Lab’s John Thomas said the method applies artificial intelligence to analyze data from autonomous experiments “to screen for defects and measure them.” The technique can quantify defects at atomic resolution, and researchers are applying it to the study and control of quantum coherence in solids. The team tested the approach on material produced from a single layer of tungsten disulfide cultured on a graphene-silicon carbide substrate, and found it shortened the imaging time from about three weeks to roughly eight hours.
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