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Ideally, a molecular cloud core is the simplest unit of dense gas, the
platonic gas reservoir from which at least a sun-like star is formed.
Observationally, a dense core is a ill defined astronomical object,
remarkably hard to study, but our only chance to understand the
initial conditions to cloud collapse and star formation. In this talk
I will review the latest observational results on molecular cloud
cores from dust emission (including the latest Herschel results), dust
extinction, and molecular line surveys, with an emphasis on the much
debated but poorly understood Core Mass Function (CMF) and its
relation to the IMF. A comparison between observations and
the results of numerical simulations will be made, together with a
wish list for the future.
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