The symposia for Microscopy and Microanalysis (M&M) 2004 have a strong emphasis on scientific applications, in contrast to a focus during the past few years on particular techniques. The Biological (B) and Physical (P) Sciences symposia feature a variety of important target scientific areas. The Advances in Instrumentation and Techniques (A) symposia tend to be aimed at cross-cutting methods that bring representatives of different communities together, for example, biological and physical scientists, X-ray and electron scatterers, “real world” microscopists in different applications fields, or practitioners of complementary microscopy and microanalysis methods that address a common class of problems. The program focus on scientific applications is balanced by a strong PreMeeting Congress, “Materials Research in an Aberration-Free Environment,” which promises to present the cutting edge of instrumentation and techniques, with an eye toward the future. The current state-of-the-art of a number of microscopy techniques is also covered in Tutorials during the meeting. Other programming venues include a variety of Sunday Short Courses, the Presidential Happenings, the IMS Sorby Award lecture, the Technologists' Forum, and “Ask the Experts.” Publicly accessible programming include an art exhibit featuring the works of David Scharf and admission to the Exhibit Hall; these may be of interest to family members of meeting registrants. Similar to last year, symposia will be highlighted with watermarks to provide “at a glance” identification of broad categories of programming. This year, practical problem solving (“RealWorld”) and nanotechnology (“Nano”) are used typically to denote microscopy and microanalysis studies that contribute understanding to translate technology into products that promise to drive today's and tomorrow's economies, respectively.