Scientists can now watch teeth and bones grow *as it happens*.
Your body contains the stuff of rocks: the calcium-based minerals in bones and teeth. In a process called biomineralization, you produce these materials that harden and stiffen as they grow. So do the bodies of other bony, toothed animals. It’s in shells, too: Iridescent mother-of-pearl forms via biomineralization.
“Currently, there are no available tools for precise monitoring and measuring the pace of tooth growth in space and time,” says Another potential option is dye. Bone-watchers have known for decades that dye and substances like it can bind with the calcium in these organs. But this is far from a perfect option to watch how calcium-based structures grow. For one, to see into a bone, you typically have to remove the calcium from your sample, which removes the dye. You can get around this by taking a slice of the tooth or bone, but that only gives you a 2D shadow of the larger 3D picture.
All of this took Křivánek and colleagues several years, but in the end, they think they have created a reliable process for watching how teeth and bones grow.
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