Scientists at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence are working on Nepomuk, a project to give computers a human-like capacity to remember. Nepomuk has developed a process that uses semantic technology to support personal information management. Data contained in the traditional computer folder structure are automatically transferred to a personal information model. For example, [...]

Organizers of the 20th annual ACM Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference, which takes place June 15-18, 2010, in San Jose, have announced a call for proposals to help shape the program for next year’s gathering. The theme of the conference is Computers, Freedom, and Privacy in the Networked Society and seeks to address how constant [...]

A team of physicists at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have created integrated circuits based on excitons that operate at minus 234 degrees Fahrenheit. Excitons are pairs of electrons and positively charged “holes” that require very cold temperatures to function. When the two parts are rejoined, the exciton breaks down and its energy [...]

The EvoGrid is a project that seeks to harness a network of small computers to analyze data using pattern recognition software as part of a research effort looking for indications of artificial life generated by a cluster of high-performance computing systems. The purpose of EvoGrid is to recognize evidence of self-organizing behavior in computerized simulations [...]

Queen’s University Belfast and Imperial College London have launched a program that will conduct research into the interaction of light with matter at the nanoscale level. The research could lead to the development of computers that use light to process information. Currently, computers use nanoscale metallic wires to transfer information as an electric current, and [...]

A European Union-funded research initiative called LEAD is using computers to enhance collaborative, face-to-face learning and problem solving. The research demonstrates that students can solve problems, master subject matter, and learn to collaborate more effectively when their face-to-face communication is enhanced by specific software tools. LEAD coordinator Jerry Andriessen says the research is important because [...]

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists have trained computers to automatically analyze aggression and courtship in fruit flies, allowing researchers to perform large-scale, high-throughput screens for the genes that control these behaviors. The computers can examine a half-hour of video footage of pairs of flies interacting and characterize the behavior of a new line of [...]

Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Munk Center for International Studies say a massive electronic spying operation has successfully stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world. The researchers say the system was controlled from computers almost exclusively in China, but they cannot conclusively say the Chinese government is involved. The [...]