Liquid metal experiments on the creation and action of cosmic magnetic fields

The success of the large-scale dynamo experiments in Riga and Karlsruhe at the end of 1999 has boosted a strong worldwide activity to simulate the creation and action of cosmic magnetic fields in the liquid metal laboratory. With some focus on our own projects, we review the recent efforts to study hydromagnetic dynamo action and related magnetic instabilities, such as the magnetorotational instability (MRI) and the Tayler instability (TI). We sketch our plans to set-up the new liquid sodium facility DRESDYN that will include a dynamo experiment based on precession, and a Taylor-Couette experiment for the combined investigation of MRI and TI.