Generally, all anyone really needs to make a terrarium is a vessel, a plant and a substrate for the plant to grow in.

CNN: Terrariums make it big by going small

The Internet protocol suite has become the de facto standard for global Internet services and consumers, but it also serves as a near ubiquitous substrate for running critical network infrastructure and applications.

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The paper thus acted as the dielectric between the components of each transistor, as well as being the substrate for the circuit, in the same way that the base of a silicon chip acts both as substrate and as dielectric.

ECONOMIST: A new use for a common material

Gore's "mistake" was a whopper: Corn is a poor substrate for ethanol production because it takes a lot of conventional fossil energy to grow and ferment it, and its diversion to ethanol production creates a conflict between two of our most fundamental needs--food and energy.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The panel is built using Samsung's existing manufacturing processes, only instead of using a glass substrate for the TFT it uses resin, which results in a tiny reduction in thickness (fro 0.5mm to 0.44mm), but a huge reduction in weight from 130g to just 28g, excluding backlights.

CNN: Samsung teases 10-Inch Galaxy Tab

Material for each color is deposited on the substrate through a fine metal mask, with one mask used for each color so that colors line up in a precise, very close pattern that, to the human eye, appears to create one pixel, or point of light.

WSJ: TV Makers Seek Fatter Profits in Thinner Sets

Univac introduced a metal substrate tape and tape recorder for computer digital recording in 1951.

FORBES: Magnetic Tape Turns 60

The new process also does away with the need for a (relatively) thick substrate to grow the nanowire on, making it cheaper, more flexible and transparent.

ENGADGET: New process for nanotube semiconductors could be graphene's ticket to primetime (video)