I have long admired the Russian masters, and I recently made a good dent in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. One passage especially struck me: Lebedev, the comic relief in the story, complains that trains, perhaps the height of technology in 1868, were forcing people to trade conscience for convenience.
It is hard not to see a parallel with our own moment, from social media to the misuse of AI. Perhaps part of being human is learning how to preserve conscience as technology advances.
On that note, we are now less than three months away from IUCr2026. I don’t know about you, but I am starting to get excited about the meeting and the chance to see so many familiar faces, many for the first time since Melbourne.
In this issue, we spotlight the XtaLAB mini II, our benchtop single-crystal X-ray diffractometer. Our Tip of the Month features Mark Del Campo, who explains how to set up the beamstop mask to maximize data coverage without sacrificing data quality.
Be sure to visit Crystallography in the News for highlights from cutting-edge research. Jeanette also reviews Every Tool’s a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It by Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame.
Even if you missed early bird registration, IUCr2026 has affordable accommodation options to support every travel budget, from University of Calgary dorms starting at $68 CAD/night to downtown conference hotels, all with easy access to the BMO Centre. Book through their official blocks before they fill up.
Planning to explore Calgary? Exclusive delegate tours through Anderson Vacations close June 1st, and every tour needs 20 participants to run. Book early to avoid scrambling for alternatives in peak summer season.
"While you're in Calgary, make time to visit Inglewood, great spots for a meal and the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary is a beautiful walk."
ACA Member (3 years) & Southern Alberta Crystallography Community Member
Our LinkedIn groupshares information and fosters discussion about X-ray crystallography and SAXS topics. Connect with other research groups and receive updates on how they use these techniques in their own laboratories. You can also catch up on the latest newsletter or Rigaku Journal issue. We also hope that you will share information about your own research and laboratory groups.
Atrigakuxrayforum.comyou can find discussions about software, general crystallography issues and more. It’s also the place to download the latest version of Rigaku Oxford Diffraction’sCrysAlisProsoftware for single crystal data processing.
The perfect addition to any synthetic chemistry laboratory, the XtaLAB mini II single crystal X-ray diffractometer will enhance research productivity by offering affordable structure analysis capability without the necessity of relying on a departmental facility. With the XtaLAB mini II benchtop diffractometer, you no longer have to wait in line to determine your structures. Instead your research group can rapidly analyze new compounds as they are synthesized in the lab without having to queue up in the departmental core facility.
XtaLAB mini II Overview:
Teach single crystal X-ray diffraction through hands-on experience
In many universities, the departmental single crystal X-ray diffractometer is considered off limits to students because of fear the instrument might be damaged by inexperienced users. The XtaLAB mini II benchtop diffractometer provides the opportunity for students to learn single crystal X-ray analysis by actually using a fully functional diffractometer. This is not a black box instrument. Rather, performing the important steps of mounting a crystal on the goniometer and physically centering the crystal in the position of the X-ray beam ensures that students learn the importance of mounting techniques and crystal selection. The simple design of the XtaLAB mini II X-ray diffractometer minimizes the possibility of students misaligning or damaging the system.
Compact size with excellent X-ray data quality
The Rigaku XtaLAB mini II is a research-grade chemical crystallography diffractometer that sits on the benchtop. No data quality compromises. Results delivered are unambiguous. X-ray source tube lifetime is extended by running a standard off-the-shelf X-ray tube at 600 W. To compensate for running at a lower power, a SHINE optic (special curved monochromator) is utilized to produce usable X-ray flux comparable to a standard X-ray diffractometer. In addition, the XtaLAB mini II is equipped with a state-of-the-art two-dimensional semiconductor detector that is characterized by extremely low background noise and high sensitivity. These detector characteristics mean that, for weakly diffracting samples, longer scan rates can be employed without the weak diffraction signals being swamped by detector noise.
Dedicated to producing publication quality single crystal X-ray structures
The chief design requirement when creating the XtaLAB mini II single crystal X-ray diffractometer was that the structures produced would be publishable in the most demanding scientific journals. The HPC X-ray detector is positioned so that the maximum 2θ value is well outside of the Acta Cryst. requirements. The software provides all the tools you need to generate publication quality data that can be used to determine 3D structures from a variety of structure analysis packages.
CrysAlisPro single crystal X-ray diffraction software
The XtaLAB mini II comes complete with CrysAlisPro, our user-inspired data collection and data processing software for single crystal analysis. Designed around an easy-to-use graphical user interface, CrysAlisPro can be operated under fully automatic, semi-automatic or manual control. CrysAlisPro combines automated crystal screening, the fastest and most accurate strategy software available, concurrent data reduction and automatic small molecule structure solution. Visual feedback is provided for each step with clear, color-coded guidance so that both novices and experts can collect high-quality data in the shortest time possible.
AutoChem: Automated single crystal structure determination software (optional)
AutoChem is an optional software package for the XtaLAB mini II and is the ultimate productivity tool for chemical crystallographers, offering fast, fully automatic X-ray structure solution and refinement during data collection. Developed in collaboration with OlexSys Ltd (Durham University, UK), AutoChem works in conjunction with Olex² where more advanced structure solution and refinement functionality exists. AutoChem is seamlessly integrated within CrysAlisPro and forms an integral part of our ‘What is this?’ feature. The ‘What is this?’ feature gives you structures quickly and ensures you are not wasting time collecting full datasets on known samples or starting materials. It is an alternative pre-experiment option, which is used to plan your full data collections.
How to Configure and Adjust Beamstop Masks by Mark Del Campo
Learn the step-by-step process for setting up a beamstop mask in CrysAlisᴾʳᵒ to account for the shadow cast by the beamstop on your diffraction images. Proper masking is essential to ensure that the software knows where reflections should not be measured, especially applicable for dual wavelength systems.
Crystals in the News
December 31, 2025 Scientists from Denmark and Sweden report the use of sub-Ǻngström liquid phase 3D electron diffraction to observe the β-to-α phase transformation of glycine and in situ crystallization of a novel hydrated aluminum-glycine phase in aqueous solution.
February 28, 2026 Researchers from China, Finland, and the UK report the synthesis, crystal structure and optical properties of the wavy tube allotrope of phosphorus.
April 1, 2026 Scientists from the UK and US report the crystallization and 1.6 Å resolution crystal structure of an acylated GLP-1/GIP analogue peptide.
Adam Savage’s Every Tool’s a Hammer: Life is What You Make It is a compelling and readable combination of creativity how-to guide and life memoir. The book is as much about Adam Savage (with quite a few references to his time on Mythbusters) as it isn’t. He deftly weaves personal experiences and anecdotes with helpful advice about channelling creative energy as effectively as possible. Many of his lessons feel extra-pertinent in an era where generative artificial intelligence is threatening the livelihood of many creative professionals (the book was published in 2019, notably before the COVID-19 pandemic and the astronomical rise of publicly -available AI tools).
Much of Savage’s advice can be applied to any project management work, independent of the field. Creating lists of critical project to-dos, as well as creating sub-lists of necessary tasks to meet those project deadlines, is a critical project management practice. Savage presents creative projects as something that can and should be structured. If you want to build something, make a plan. Figure out what supplies you need at each step. If you’ve ever watched professional cooks, they assemble and measure all their ingredients before they start the cooking process. Measuring and preparing ingredients as you go is less efficient, and, depending on what you are cooking, can negatively impact the outcome of the final product. Clean up at the end of every day because starting the next day with yesterday’s mess is setting yourself up for less success. Savage advises that failing is OK because failing is how you learn. This is something that society struggles to grasp. Attempting to achieve a particular outcome and failing to do so is an opportunity for learning and growth. You’ve just learned how not to do it.
One of his more insightful tips is that more expensive tools tend to be higher quality and last longer. You can buy something cheap, but chances are, with the number of times you have to replace it, it’s a better investment in the long run to buy the higher-quality option. But he advises that before sinking money into an expensive tool, you should do your research. Sample a few of the cheaper options and get a sense for what you really need out of the tool and what the cheaper option might be missing. That way, when you are ready to invest in something higher quality, you know what to look for.
Every Tool’s a Hammer is a helpful read for anyone who has to plan and execute project work, whether in their personal life or professional life, and whether or not that project work is creative or analytical.
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