A major challenge in modern materials science is characterizing of processes at ultrasmall and ultrafast scales. Nanoscale phenomena are essential in manipulating energy (ionic systems), processing information (electronic systems), and controlling light (photonics). X-rays are excellent probes of matter and developments of an x-ray microscope date back to Röntgen, who attempted to focus x-rays more than a century ago. However, it was not until the past decade that x-ray microscopy finally matured combining superb spatial (sub-100 nm) and temporal (sub-1 ps) resolution. I will present recent developments in coherent x-ray imaging techniques, which were applied to a wide range of systems – spanning from “real” materials and devices in-operando to studies of fundamental interactions in strongly correlated electron systems and photonic crystals, particularly those present in nature.