  A new class of warped Anti-de Sitter solutions is found, arising as the
near-horizon region of various semi-localized brane intersections. The dual
gauge theories of AdS in warped spacetimes have reduced supersymmetry, which is
pertinent to the study of viable supersymmetric extensions of the Standard
Model. In addition, various supergravity solutions are probed via the
absorption of various fields. In particular, we calculate exact absorption
probabilities which provide finite-energy probes of supergravity solutions away
from the conformal limit. Lastly, we discuss how brane world scenarios may
arise from the near-horizon region of various p-brane configurations. Motivated
by the dual non-commutative gauge theory, it is shown how a background B field
mimics a negative four-dimensional cosmological constant, such that in both
cases there is a massive four-dimensional graviton.
