Science, Industry and Business: the innovations-report

Douglas McCauley and Paul DeSalles did not set out to discover one of the longest ecological interaction chains ever documented. But that's exactly what they and a team of researchers – all current or former Stanford students and faculty – did in a new study published in Scientific Reports.

Their findings shed light on how human disturbance of the natural world may lead to widespread, yet largely invisible, disruptions of ecological interaction chains. This, in turn, highlights the need to build non-traditional alliances – among marine biologists and foresters, for example – to address whole ecosystems across political boundaries.

This ...

In the focus: LEDs on Silicon Can Reduce Production Costs

A new manufacturing technology is expected to greatly reduce the cost of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the future.

For the first time ever, researchers at the Siemens subsidiary Osram Opto Semiconductors were able to successfully produce gallium nitride LED chips on a silicon substrate instead of the much more expensive sapphire backing.

Silicon is a standard material in the semiconductor industry and is therefore an inexpensive and easily ...

In the focus: A supernova cocoon breakthrough

The first evidence in X-rays of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas around the star has been found.

This discovery may help explain why some supernova explosions are more powerful than others.

This supernova is called SN 2010jl and is found in a galaxy about 160 million light years from Earth.

SN 2010jl was first spotted by astronomers on November 3, 2010, and probably exploded about a month before that.

Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others.

On November 3, 2010, a supernova was ...

In the focus: Fuel for the black hole

An international research team led by Gerd Weigelt from the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie in Bonn reports on high-resolution studies of an active galactic nucleus.

The use of near-infrared interferometry allowed the team to resolve a ring-shaped dust distribution (generally called "dust torus") in the inner region of the nucleus of the active galaxy NGC 3783. This method is able to achieve an angular resolution equivalent to the resolution of a telescope with a diameter ...

In the focus: Big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant island snakes

Some populations of tiger snakes stranded for thousands of years on tiny islands surrounding Australia have evolved to be giants, growing to nearly twice the size of their mainland cousins. Now, new research in The American Naturalist suggests that the enormity of these elapids was driven by the need to have big-mouthed babies.

Mainland tiger snakes, which generally max out at 35 inches (89 cm) long, patrol swampy areas in search of frogs, their dietary staple. When sea levels rose around 10,000 years ago, some tiger snakes found themselves marooned on islands that would become dry and frog-free. With their favorite food gone, ...

All Focus news of the innovations-report >>>

In the focus: Stanford scientists document fragile land-sea ecological chain

In the focus: LEDs on Silicon Can Reduce Production Costs

In the focus: A supernova cocoon breakthrough

In the focus: Fuel for the black hole

In the focus: Big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant island snakes

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