Cygnus A, the nearest truly powerful radio galaxy, resides at the centre of a massive galaxy cluster. Chandra X-ray observations reveal its cocoon shocks, radio lobe cavities and an X-ray jet, which are discussed here. It is argued that X-ray emission from the outer regions of the cocoon shocks is nonthermal. The X-ray jets are best interpreted as synchrotron emission, suggesting that they, rather than the radio jets, are the path of energy flow from the nucleus to the hotspots. In that case, a model shows that the jet flow is non-relativistic and carries in excess of one solar mass per year.

For selected species, conservation breeding has become integrated into recovery plans, most often through the production of offspring for reintroduction into nature. As these programs increase in size and scope, it is imperative that conservation managers retain the biological integrity of the species. This study investigated the causes of morphological changes that are known to occur in black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) maintained ex situ. In a previous study, ferrets maintained in captivity were 5–10% smaller in body size than pre-captive, in situ animals. In the present study, the authors compared nine morphological characters among ex situ animals and their in situ descendants. Within the ex situ population, cage types were compared to determine whether housing influenced morphometry. Black-footed ferrets born to reintroduced individuals quickly returned to their pre-captive size suggesting that a diminutive morphology ex situ did not have a genetic basis. Furthermore, cage type affected overall body size and shape; ulnas and tibias were as much as 9% shorter for ex situ animals. The authors hypothesise that small cage size and environmental homogeneity inhibit the mechanical stimuli necessary for long bone development. These findings have ramifications for ex situ managers who need to create artificial captive settings that promote natural physical development. In the absence of such an environment, ‘unnatural’ morphologies can result that may contribute to poor fitness or perhaps even domestication.

Recent data have radically altered the X-ray perspective on cooling flow clusters. X-ray spectra show that very little of the hot intra-cluster medium is cooler than about 1 keV, despite having short cooling times. In an increasing number of cooling flow clusters, the lobes of a central radio source are found to have created cavities in the hot gas. Generally, the cavities are not overpressured relative to the intra-cluster gas, but act as buoyant bubbles of radio emitting plasma that drive circulation as they rise, mixing and heating the intra-cluster gas. All this points to the radio source, i.e., an active galactic nucleus, as the heat source that prevents gas from cooling to low temperatures. However, heating due to bubbles alone seems to be insufficient, so the energetics of cooling flows remain obscure. We briefly review the data and theory supporting this view and discuss the energetics of cooling flows.

The use of thin nitride/oxide (NO) stacked dielectrics is common in DRAM storage node structures today. The cell capacitance can be increased without increasing the cell plate area by decreasing the thickness of the dielectric. Combinations of novel storage node structures, textured electrode surfaces, and very thin NO films (equivalent oxide thickness equal <30 Angstroms) are being characterized for use in 256 Mb and 1 Gb DRAM devices as an alternative to premature use of high k dielectric materials. However, the native oxide formed on the surface of the polysilicon bottom electrode prior to dielectric nitride deposition in a standard LPCVD furnace reactor causes the leakage current and reliability properties of the dielectric to degrade for very thin films. Using a vacuum load-locked RTCVD single-wafer reactor with appropriate in situ ammonia and hydrogen pre-deposition surface conditioning, the native oxide can be eliminated and very thin nitride films of much higher quality can be deposited. A comparison between standard batch LPCVD processing and single-wafer RTCVD for silicon nitride deposition has been done and electrical characteristics (including leakage current and time dependent dielectric breakdown) of the films have been measured. These results indicate that use of NO dielectric films may be extended 1–2 more generations of DRAM devices. This will allow more time for improving the quality of high k dielectric films.