The startup LS9 reveals a discovery that could lead to biofuels that would work in conventional engines. Many species naturally make small amounts of hydrocarbons. Now researchers at the startup LS9 , based in South San Francisco, CA, have described the genes and enzymes responsible for this production of alkanes, the major components of fuels such as diesel . The findings, reported in the current issue of the journal Science , have allowed the researchers to engineer E. coli bacteria that can secrete alkane hydrocarbons capable of being burned in diesel engines.

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Genes to Make Hydrocarbon Fuels

Implantable devices work in diabetic pigs for over a year–human tests could be next. Researchers have successfully tested a fully implantable glucose-monitoring device in pigs for nearly two years, according to new research published today in Science Translational Medicine . Scientists plan to file for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin human tests. Eventually, researchers aim to couple this kind of device with one that would automatically deliver insulin in response to changing blood-sugar levels.

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Glucose Monitors Get Under the Skin

A computer security researcher demonstrates attacks on cash machines. Yesterday, during a flashy presentation at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, a computer security expert showed several ways to break into ATMs.

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How to Make an ATM Spit Out Money

Microsoft’s new toy allows for a more seamless walk down an online avenue. New street-level imaging software developed by Microsoft could help people find locations more quickly on the Web. The software could also leave new space for online advertising.

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A Smoother Street View

Digital encoding could catch future informants. Attorney General Eric Holder’s new probe into Wikileaks’s posting of 91,000 war documents will likely find that tracing the path of the documents back through the Internet is next to impossible. But watermarks–if they were embedded in the files–could reveal the whistle-blower.

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The Hunt for the Wikileaks Whistle-blower

The DOE funds a research center aimed at making artificial photosynthesis practical. The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $122 million to establish a research center in California to develop ways of generating fuel made from sunlight. The project will be led by researchers at Caltech and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and will include researchers at various other California institutions, including Stanford University, the University of California, Irvine, and the University of California, Berkeley.

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Fuel from the Sun

A federal investigation finds conflicting test results and false marketing claims.

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Video – Genetic Tests Get Bad Grades

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Proximity based social network

A malicious site can find out what social-networking groups you belong to–and then figure out your identity. People often get categorized by social group–jock, geek, soccer mom. The same is true for our online identities: If you have an account on Facebook or LinkedIn, you might also belong to several groups on each site.

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Your Groups Tell Hackers Who You Are

Using the contents of images or videos to target Web ads could improve click-through. Web ads help subsidize free content and services, and have made Google into the behemoth it is today. But the software used to tailor them to a user’s interests can only do this by analyzing the words on a webpage.

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Ads that Match a Web Page’s Images