in this Editorial for the Nanowires Special Issue of Advanced Materials, Younan Xia and Peidong Yang welcome you to this survey of the fast-moving area of nanowire research. Communications and Research News articles covering vapor-phase, solution-based, and template-directed routes to the synthesis of nanowires, self-assembly with nanowires as the building blocks, and new physics associated with ID nanostructures can all be found within.