I will give an overview (actually just a few examples) of synchrotron radiation research with hard x-rays from various laboratories including the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at the Cornell Electron-Positron Storage Ring (CESR). A number of examples of both science and instrumentation development will be discussed. I'll will close with an overview of where the field is headed with very high flux beamlines (at CHESS naturally) and with fourth generation storage rings for ultra-brilliant x-ray beams.