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Microelectronics technology is now pushing deep into the submicron regime, yet, for the most part, work on micromachines still remains back at the few micron scale, or larger. The time is ripe to put the pieces together and embark upon a concerted exploration of nanomechanical systems. I will highlight the promise of this domain, and our recent work in this field. Ultimately these devices will permit access to a mesoscopic regime where mechanics becomes dominated by quantum, rather than thermal, fluctuations; where force and displacement detection meets, or even exceeds, the standard quantum limit; and where observation of heat flow involving individual phonons becomes feasible. I will discuss the challenges we face as we proceed along this path.