D-branes in standard model building, gravity and cosmology

D-branes are by now an integral part of our toolbox towards understanding nature. In this review, we will describe recent progress in their use to realize fundamental interactions. The realization of the standard model and relevant physics and problems will be detailed. New ideas on realizing four-dimensional gravity use the brane idea in an important way. Such approaches will be reviewed and compared to the standard paradigm of compactification. Branes can play a pivotal role both in early- and late-universe cosmology mainly via the brane-universe paradigm. Brane realizations of various cosmological ideas (early inflation, sources for dark matter and dark energy, massive gravity, etc)are also reviewed.