We review some of the recent work on the use of S-Z measurements to probe galaxy clusters and the global properties of the universe. While the full potential of using the effect to map the gas and total mass profiles of clusters has yet to be realized, analyses of BIMA and OVRO measurements have already yielded statistically meaningful results for the mean gas mass fraction of clusters and for the Hubble parameter. We briefly summarize some of the extensive theoretical studies of the S-Z induced CMB anisotropy and its diagnostic value (also to test alternative cosmological models), and recent work to determine the redshift evolution of the CMB temperature.