Researchers from Skoltech, SberUniversity, the M.N. Mikheev Institute of Metal Physics of UB RAS and Ural Federal University have published a review of a novel approach to interpreting chemical bonding in solids. The method not only describes crystals in terms of precise calculations but also enables chemists to reclaim explanatory models that are intuitively meaningful to them. The insights that emerge span long-documented anomalies that previously lacked a theoretical account.