Opportunities and advances in mesoscale science

The mesoscale, where the granularity of atoms and the quantization of energy give way to apparently continuous and infinitely divisible matter and energy, opens up a new frontier of scientific opportunity. This opportunity has been embraced by the scientific community and the fruits of the exploration of mesoscale science are beginning to emerge. In this brief introduction, we highlight the themes and directions described in greater detail in the articles that follow. In particular, the implications of mesoscale science for energy storage, high-strength structural composites, magnetic interactions, materials aging, and degradation science, as well as the characterization capabilities necessary to explore these phenomena, are discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.