Lightning.

Credit: National Center for Atmospheric Research

Bioluminescence is a complex chemical reaction within a cell that releases energy in the form of light. Researchers theorize that this illumination is a form of intra-species and inter-species communication. This natural light show can be seen in a wide variety of marine organisms such as the Aequorea aequorea, pictured here.

The work on the photoprotein aequorin obtained from this jellyfish (Aequorea) was supported by National Science Foundation grants from 1960 until July, 2001.

Credit: Dr. Osamu Shimomura, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA

Sulfate-reducing bacteria.

This image was produced as part of a research project supported in part by the National Science Foundation's Division of Earth Sciences, Geochemistry Program.

Credit: Labrenz

A device pad structure is shown next to a penny for comparative size. The Georgia Tech Center for Low Cost Packaging Research (PRC) envisions those future devices, such as ICs, MEMS, and integral passives, will be embedded in the substrate via SOP (system-on-package) enabling technologies. Research at PRC is funded by the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers Program, the electronics industry and the state of Georgia.

For more information, visit the Georgia Tech Center for Low Cost Packaging Research Web site, http://www.prc.gatech.edu.

Credit: Courtesy Georgia Tech Center for Low Cost Electronics Packaging Research; photo by Stanley F. Leary