Preface for the special issue celebrating Stephen Weiner's 65th birthday.
The products of biomineralization have attracted the attention and the curiosity of scientists for many years. The origin of biomineralization as a scientific discipline may be tracked to the 19th century, with early work on bone and on sponge spicules and the recognition that organic molecules may influence the growth of inorganic crystals. But the blooming of general interest in biomineralization really started in the second half of the 20th century. Steve Weiner first heard about biomineralization in the early seventies from a lecture of Heinz Lowenstam in Jerusalem, and decided to join Heinz in Caltech for his PhD: since then, Steve never ceased to be fascinated by biomineralization and to work in this field, and with good reason. Having worked with Steve for many years, in the field and in the lab, we know and share his passion and excitement. Heinz said in an interview with Heidi Aspaturian in 1989: ‘‘I am pleased with one thing: that I myself, with the help of my former students, Steve in particular, have gotten people who work on. . . bone and teeth to look at their work in the broader context of biomineralization. I have tried to show them that their work is only a small part of the whole biomineralization process, and that if one looks at the broader picture and gets information on how these processes work, one might get feedback in terms of better understanding what is going on...’’. Biomineralization is the science of how inorganic and also organic substances are deposited and controlled by living systems and is, thus, inherently multidisciplinary. In 1989, Steve and Heinz listed in the introduction of their book ‘‘On biomineralization’’ the scientific disciplines that are touched by biomineralization: evolution, paleontology, oceanography, sedimentology, materials, dentistry, orthopedics and archeology. Today we should at least add to that list biomimetics, mechanics and of course structural biology. Starting from the 1970s and to this day, the developments in molecular biology provided an increasing amount of knowledge on the macromolecules involved in the interactions with, and the control of, the mineral phases. The advances in this area were predictably much slower than in other areas of biology, because of the multitude and the complexity of the macromolecules involved, and because of the difficulties emanating from their association with mineral: there is still much to do. The development of new characterization tools and groundbreaking advances in electron microscopy provide us today with insights into what occurs in mineralizing tissues at the supra-molecular level under close to physiological conditions. New sophisticated spectroscopic techniques provide us with the possibility to obtain fingerprints of minerals and of their development, of organic matrix profiles, of the interfaces and interphases between them at nanometer resolu-