What's up in
computers
Q&A
The Computer Scientist Who Parlays Failures Into Breakthroughs
Daniel Spielman solves important problems by thinking hard — about other questions.
Q&A
How to Write Software With Mathematical Perfection
Leslie Lamport revolutionized how computers talk to each other. Now he’s working on how engineers talk to their machines.
neural networks
AI Overcomes Stumbling Block on Brain-Inspired Hardware
Algorithms that use the brain’s communication signal can now work on analog neuromorphic chips, which closely mimic our energy-efficient brains.
Q&A
To Boldly Go Where No Internet Protocol Has Gone Before
Vinton Cerf helped create the internet 40 years ago, and he’s still working to connect people around the world — and off it.
Abstractions blog
How and Why Computers Roll Loaded Dice
Researchers are one step closer to injecting probability into deterministic machines.
Q&A
The Computer Scientist Who Can’t Stop Telling Stories
For pioneering computer scientist Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression.
Data Driven: The New Big Science
Our Bodies, Our Data
New technologies have launched the life sciences into the age of big data. Biologists must now make sense of their windfall.
quantum computing
The Proof in the Quantum Pudding
How do you know if a quantum computer is doing what it claims? A new protocol offers a possible solution and a boost to quantum cryptography.
algorithms
In Computers We Trust?
As the role of computers in pure mathematics grows, researchers debate their reliability.