The Waring rank of a homogeneous form is the number of terms needed to write it as a sum of powers of linear forms. It is related to secant varieties, provides a measure of the complexity of polynomials, and has applications in statistics, sciences, and engineering. I will discuss three topics related to Waring rank. (1) Waring ranks of general forms have been known for some time, but it is also of interest to determine Waring rank of particular forms such as the generic determinant and permanent. I will describe some recent results obtained via algebraic and geometric lower bounds for Waring rank; this is joint work with Jaroslaw Buczynski and with Harm Derksen. (2) A variation of a conjecture of Strassen asserts that the Waring rank of the sum of two forms in independent variables is the sum of the ranks of the summands. I will describe an elementary sufficient condition for a strong version of Strassen’s conjecture. (3) It is an open question to determine the maximum Waring rank occurring among forms of a given degree, in a given number of variables. I will describe an upper bound; this is joint work with Gregoriy Blekherman.