Nature Publishing Group has launched an Asia Materials website, featuring highlights of some of the best research from all fields of materials research published in the Asia-Pacific region. A substantial share of the world’s materials research output comes from Asian countries, and the Asia-Pacific region is making rapidly increasing contributions to global scientific research. In response to these developments, scientists from Tokyo Institute of Technology (members of the Global-Center of Excellence programme on materials science), together with NPG Nature Asia-Pacific, the Asia-Pacific wing of Nature Publishing Group, have launched NPG Asia Materials in preparation for establishing a new research journal devoted to materials research. Each month, NPG Asia Materials will be updated with short, easy-to-understand highlights of research articles recently published by scientists of the region in leading journals covering all fields of materials science. An Editorial Committee manages the site and selects research highlights from the papers recommended by the site’s Advisory Board. You can register for regular e-mail alerts for NPG Asia Materials.