To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the seminal publication by Carl R. Woese and George E. Fox that proposed the Archaea as a separate group, distinct from Bacteria and Eukarya, we have set up this channel to ask scientists about how they got involved in archaeal research, discuss the biggest advances in the field during the past 4 decades, and highlight where the field is headed. We hope this channel helps to put the Archaea in the spotlight, including their wide distribution across the planet's ecosystems, their importance in essential biogeochemical processes, their unique cell biology and their central role for understanding the origins and evolution of life on Earth.