Using X-ray laser pulses, the structure of matter can be studied with previously unprecedented accuracy. However, the pulses are so violent that they destroy the sample being irradiated. Notwithstanding, a Polish-Japanese team of physicists has just succeeded in demonstrating that atoms of the crystal under investigation react to an avalanche of photons with a certain delay. The discovery means that by using sufficiently short laser pulses, it will be possible to view an undisturbed structure of matter.