Welcome to the May 8, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• New Diplomatic Strategy Emerges as AI Grows
• IT Unemployment Falls Slightly
• Fortran Popularity Rises with Numerical, Scientific Computing
• 'World's Purest Silicon' Could Lead to Efficient Quantum Computer Chips
• College Cyber Programs Vary Widely
• Caterpillar-Like Robot Can Split, Rejoin, Haul Cargo, Crawl Through Mazes
• U.S. to Fund 'Digital Twin' Projects for Chips
• Robert Dennard, Father of DRAM, Dies
• 'Video Games' Shed Light on How Flies Fly
• Hubble Network Makes Bluetooth Connection with Satellite
• U.S. Senators Want Limits on Facial Recognition at Airports
• Chatbots Have Infiltrated Scientific Publishing

New Diplomatic Strategy Emerges as AI Grows

U.S. and Chinese diplomats plan to meet later this month to begin what in essence would be the first arms control talks over the use of AI. The talks in Geneva are an attempt to find some common ground on how AI will be used and in which situations it could be prohibited. For the U.S., the conversation represents the first major foray into a new realm of diplomacy.
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IT Unemployment Falls Slightly

A CompTIA analysis of U.S. Department of Labor data found that tech companies added around 4,280 workers in April. Technology services and software development positions fueled job growth last month, followed by positions in cloud infrastructure, data processing, and data hosting. The unemployment rate for IT workers dropped from 3% in March to 2.8% last month. CompTIA found tech jobs throughout the economy declined 0.3%, or 20,000 in April, as job postings fell from 191,000 in March to 179,000 in April.
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Fortran Popularity Rises with Numerical, Scientific Computing

Fortran held steady at No. 10 in Tiobe's monthly index of programming language popularity for May, after re-entering the top 10 in the previous month for the first time since April 2002. Tiobe's Paul Jansen attributes Fortran's recent rise in popularity to its advantages for numerical/mathematical computing. Tiobe's top 10 for May are Python, C, C++, Java, C#, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Go (golang), SQL, and Fortran.
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'World's Purest Silicon' Could Lead to Efficient Quantum Computer Chips

An ultra-pure form of silicon engineered by researchers at the U.K.'s University of Manchester and Australia’s University of Melbourne could enable highly reliable "silicon-spin qubits" in quantum computers. The researchers proposed making a qubit out of silicon-28 (Si-28), which they described as the "world's purest silicon," after stripping away impurities found in natural silicon. These silicon-based qubits would be less prone to failure, they said, and could be fabricated to the size of a pinhead.
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College Cyber Programs Vary Widely

Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) found significant variations in the cybersecurity programs offered in higher education. The researchers examined the relevant programs offered by 100 U.S. institutions designated as National Security Agency National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity. They found those institutions vary significantly in terms of the programs offered and how many cybersecurity-specific courses they provide.
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Caterpillar-Like Robot Can Split, Rejoin, Haul Cargo, Crawl Through Mazes

Princeton University and North Carolina State University researchers have developed a soft robot with the ability to bend and twist around mazes. With its steering system integrated into its body, the soft robot also can divide into segments and reassemble while moving, enabling it to function as a single robot or a swarm. The origami-inspired robot is comprised of cylindrical pieces with a Kresling pattern, which allows each segment to twist into a flattened disk and then expand back to a cylinder.
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U.S. to Fund 'Digital Twin' Projects for Chips

Applications are being accepted through Sept. 9 for $285 million in funding that will be used to establish an institute geared toward digital twin technology for the semiconductor industry. National Institute of Standards and Technology director Laurie E. Locascio said digital twinning can reduce costs through better capacity planning, production optimization, facility upgrades, and real-time process adjustments. The funding is part of the 2022 Chips and Science Act, which includes $11 billion for semiconductor research and development.
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Robert Dennard, Father of DRAM, Dies

Robert Heath Dennard, inventor of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), passed away on April 23. In 1964, Dennard and a team of microelectronics specialists developed an alternative system that required just six metal oxide semiconductor transistors to store one bit of data; subsequent research would lead to DRAM. Later, Dennard outlined a theory that came to be known as Dennard scaling, which has helped computers and other electronic devices to get smaller, faster, and more efficient each year.
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'Video Games' Shed Light on How Flies Fly

California Institute of Technology researchers developed a neural network that predicts the wing motion of fruit flies based on muscle activity, in order to better understand the wing's complex hinge structure. This involved creating a "video game" for the flies, surrounding them with LED displays that simulated environmental cues and prompted them to change their flight patterns and speeds. The researchers collected terabytes of data on 72,000 wingbeats.
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Hubble Network Makes Bluetooth Connection with Satellite

Seattle startup Hubble Network has become the first to establish a Bluetooth connection directly to a satellite. Since its first two satellites were launched in March, Hubble has received signals from the onboard 3.5 mm Bluetooth chips from more than 600 km (373 miles) away. The firm plans to launch two more satellites this year to create a "beta constellation," with another 32 satellites to be launched simultaneously in late 2025 or early 2026 to complete Hubble's first "product constellation."
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U.S. Senators Want Limits on Facial Recognition at Airports

In a May 2 letter, a bipartisan group of 14 U.S. Senators urged Senate leaders to limit the use of facial recognition technology by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). According to the letter, "This technology poses significant threats to our privacy and civil liberties, and Congress should prohibit TSA's development and deployment of facial recognition tools until rigorous congressional oversight occurs." While TSA officials said the technology improves identity verification, concerns remain about who has access to the data and possible algorithmic bias, among other things.
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Chatbots Have Infiltrated Scientific Publishing

Andrew Gray of the U.K.'s University College London used the data analytics platform Dimensions to scan more than 140 million scientific papers published worldwide for words frequently used by chatbots, such as "intricate," "meticulous," and "commendable." The analysis found at least 60,000 papers, just over 1% of all scientific articles published last year, may have been written using a large language model.
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