JINXED: just in time crystallization for easy structure determination of biological macromolecules

In this work, a method is developed and tested to obtain protein crystals on-the-fly, before immediately probing them with X-rays. The resulting crystals proved to be useful for serial crystallography using the CFEL TapeDrive and yielded high-quality datasets with useful resolution to 1.71 Å.

Flexible design in the stomatopod dactyl club

The stomatopod dactyl club has a complex structure featuring an impact region, periodic regions and striated regions. The side region of the club contains both periodic and striated parts. The side region is considered to be mineralized by inorganic amorphous phases. This work shows that these phases crystallize to calcite, generating a macroporous structure early in the biomineralization process. This phase transition is common, but does not occur in every club. Thus, the appearance of the macroporous calcite structure must reflect a natural flexible design allowing for structural plasticity, such that the club remains functionally viable even upon large changes in the mineral phase microstructure.

On the angular anisotropy of the randomly averaged magnetic neutron scattering cross section of nanoparticles

A discussion on the angular anisotropy of the two-dimensional magnetic small-angle neutron scattering cross section of randomly oriented nanoparticles is provided, and it is shown by means of micromagnetic simulations that this quantity is, in general, anisotropic.

Investigation of the milling characteristics of different focused-ion-beam sources assessed by three-dimensional electron diffraction from crystal lamellae

An analysis of the effect on diffraction quality that arises from milling crystals of lysozyme with argon and xenon plasma focused ion beams is presented. This is compared with crystals milled using a gallium source. Upper and lower bounds for the thickness of the milling damage layer are estimated.

Fast extraction of three-dimensional nanofiber orientation from WAXD patterns using machine learning

A machine-learning (ML) based framework can help to unveil the nanofiber orientation in hierarchically structured biological materials with the advantages of fast speed and automation. It promises to meet the analysis demand of extensive amounts of related data online and in real time in near-future next-generation synchrotrons.

Classification of perovskite structural types with dynamical octahedral tilting

Here, a new class of dynamically distorted perovskite structures is proposed. Based on a complete table of all possible structures, experimental data are re-examined and space group relationships are explained. A list of characteristic features of dynamically distorted perovskite structures is also provided.