After having served for years as a perfect second on the heels of the bright star graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has now demonstrated to be able to shine with its own light, offering a unique combination of physical properties that enable its use for a broad range of applications, from quantum technologies to deep UV optoelectronics, mid-infrared nano-photonics and thermal management applications [1]. hBN is indeed a natural hyperbolic material in the mid-IR range. It exhibits strong, thickness-dependent second-order non-linearities. By engineering its defects it can become a room-temperature, single-photon emitter and, finally, even being indirect, its wide bandgap offers very high internal quantum efficiency for deep UV emitters and detectors. All these features stem from its highly anisotropic crystal structure and its polar chemical bond which lead to peculiar electronic band structure, phonon dispersion, strong electron-phonon coupling, and huge excitonic effects [2,3]. Starting then from the description of its constituent elements I will outline the reasons for its exclusive properties and I will highlight recent discoveries and possible routes for further exploiting its huge potential [4,5]. [1]B Gil, G Cassabois, R Cusco, G Fugallo, L Artus Nanophotonics 9: 3483–3504 (2020) [2]G. Fugallo, M. Aramini, J. Koskelo, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, M. Hakala, S. Huotari, M. Gatti, and F. Sottile, Phys. Rev. B 92, 165122 (2015). [3]Cepellotti, A., G. Fugallo, L. Paulatto, M. Lazzeri, F. Mauri, and N. Marzari, Nature Comm. 6, 6400. (2015) [4]C. Elias, G. Fugallo, P. Valvin, C. L’Henoret, J. Li, J. H. Edgar, F. Sottile, M. Lazzeri, A. Ouerghi, B. Gil, and G. Cassabois Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 137401 (2021). [5] G. Cassabois, G. Fugallo, C. Elias, P. Valvin, A. Rousseau, B. Gil, A. Summerfield, C. J. Mellor, T. S. Cheng, L. Eaves, C. T. Foxon, P. H. Beton, M. Lazzeri, A. Segura, and S. Novikov, Phys Rev X 12, 011057 (2022)