Skeletons on the brain

Responding to “Skeletons in the Cupboard” (Adv. Mater. 1995, 7, 948) and “Skeletons in the Beaker” (Adv. Mater. 1995, 7, 943), Stephen Mann presents his view of the connection between his work on biomineralization and that on microstructures by Pieter Harting in the last century. He outlines his perspective of the area, in particular the relationship between biomineralization and biomimetic synthesis of inorganic materials.