Analysis by atomic spectrometry was one of the first instrumental analytical techniques to be developed. It might be expected that this maturity would be reflected in a slowing down in the pace of development. That this has not happened is attributable to the symbiotic relationship that exists between demand and development with each feeding continually on the other. Recent catalysts in this cycle have been the development of hybrid techniques and chemometrics which both enhance the information content of analytical procedures and provide means for its extraction and interpretation. Thus, as the nature of the source material changes, so must these Update Reviews in order to provide a balanced view of progress. For this reason, this Atomisation and Excitation Update has been pruned slightly with inorganic mass spectrometry being transferred and combined with X-ray spectrometry to form a new Update that will appear in the next issue of JAAS.