Amazing stuff! X-rays were discovered over 120 years ago, but it still keeps on giving!
"A new X-ray technique has revealed hitherto unknown structures in human bone. The technique, which uses a synchrotron beam to map the 3D orientation of nanocrystals and nanostructures within a material, advances our understanding of bone structure and how it relates to bone mechanics and bone disease. ... In their experiments, members of the team scanned a 40x40x40 micron cross-section of trabecular bone across a beam of synchrotron radiation while rotating the sample around its x and y axes. By combining small-angle X-ray scattering and wide-angle X-ray scattering, they were able to probe the bone’s nanoscale structures and the atomic structure of its biomineral crystal lattice at the same time. ... this is the first time that that the ‘twisted plywood’ pattern of human lamellar bone has been mapped in 3D at such high resolution"
X-rays unearth novel nanofeatures in bone – Physics World
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