  Typical galaxies emit about one third of their energy in the infrared. The
origin of this emission reprocessed starlight absorbed by interstellar dust
grains and reradiated as thermal emission in the infrared. In particularly
dusty galaxies, such as starburst galaxies, the fraction of energy emitted in
the infrared can be as high as 90%. Dust emission is found to be an excellent
tracer of the beginning and end stages of a star's life, where dust is being
produced by post-main-sequence stars, subsequently added to the interstellar
dust reservoir, and eventually being consumed by star and planet formation.
This work reviews the current understanding of the size and properties of this
interstellar dust reservoir, by using the Large Magellanic Cloud as an example,
and what can be learned about the dust properties and star formation in
galaxies from this dust reservoir, using SPICA, building on previous work
performed with the Herschel and Spitzer Space Telescopes, as well as the
Infrared Space Observatory.
