(Phys.org) —A team of researchers working in Japan has developed a method for allowing X-ray crystallography to work on molecular groups that have not first been crystallized. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they built small scaffolds that resemble pockets for the molecules to rest in, securing them in place and allowing for X-ray crystallography analysis. 

If this process works reliably it's probably the biggest scientific breakthrough of the year. Nanotechonlogy will get a boost from the ability to inexpensively determine the structure of a lot of molecule that we couldn't visualize beforehand.