Essay: A highlight of the materials science year is for many people a visit to the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting in Boston in December. This brief report of last year's meeting-including a few of the outstanding lectures and award winners as well as a quick glance at the equipment and services exhibition-also takes a look at some at some of the problems caused by the ever increasing size of the meeting. Can the interdisciplinary interaction of the participants-a distinctive feature of the early meetings-be retained as the number of delegates nears the 5000 mark?.