The world is now applying a number of new facilities, advanced computing, and scientific insights to explore a variety and depth of phenomena that do not occur naturally on Earth. High power and high intensity lasers, z-pinches, and ion beams allow for laboratory investigations of material and radiation at extreme conditions in detail. The variety and depth of phenomena is beyond what most of us imagined, and scientists are eagerly considering what more can be found. This special issue illustrates the broad variety of physical phenomena under investigation.