At sufficiently small sizes the properties of materials are commonly observed to depend on size. Such dependencies may go beyond mere scaling with size, manifesting themselves in physical and chemical behavior that is new anddifferent from that found at larger sizes. Such circumstances, when small is different in anessential way, may occur when one (or more) of the physical dimensions of the material aggregate approaches a length-scale characteristic to a physical phenomenon (with different phenomena being characterized by different length-scales). Basic research of these and related issues underlies future technologies, and it requires the development of new theoretical and experimental approaches. These physical and methodological issues will be discussed and illustrated using results obtained through “computational microscopies” – that is, large-scale classical and quantum simulations.

Topics will include: Generation, stability and breakup of nanostructures – atomistic and stochastic hydrodynamical simulations of nanojets exploring the limit of validity of continuum approaches, and cluster-deposited fractal islands; Spontaneous symmetry breaking leading to formation of crystallized electronic clusters (Wigner molecules) in two-dimensional quantum dots, and consequences for the fractional quantum Hall effect; Emergence of magnetism in free and surface-supported small palladium clusters; Counter-ion- gated polaronic charge transport in ionized DNA, and rheological and nanotribological properties of lubricating fluids in highly confined environments.