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Porous metals and ceramic materials are of critical importance in catalysis, sensing, and adsorption technologies and exhibit unusual mechanical, magnetic, electrical, and optical properties compared to nonporous bulk materials. Materials with nanoscale porosity often are formed through molecular self-assembly processes that lock in a particular length scale; consider, for instance, the assembly of crystalline mesoporous zeolites with a pore size of 2–50 nm or the evolution of structural domains in block copolymers. Of recent interest has been the identification of general kinetic pattern-forming principles that underlie the formation of mesoporous materials without a locked- in length scale. When materials are kinetically locked out of thermodynamic equilibrium, temperature or chemistry can be used as a “knob” to tune their microstructure and properties. In this issue of the MRS Bulletin, we explore new …