As shown in this issue’s “Letter from the Editor,” ceramics are an ancient material that is undergoing a quiet revolution, transforming from a natural substance passively used in pottery and brickwork into a highly engineered component that pushes the boundaries of medicine, energy, and environmental technology.

Scientists and engineers have gone from simply utilizing ceramics for their inherent properties, such as hardness and heat resistance, to actively controlling a ceramic’s chemical composition and structure on the atomic scale, thereby tailoring its behavior for a specific purpose.