Accurately reconstructing how the parts of a complex molecular are held together knowing only how the molecule distorts and breaks up—this was the challenge taken on by a research team led by SISSA's Cristian Micheletti and recently published on Physical Review Letters. In particular, the scientists studied how a DNA double helix unzips when translocated at high velocity through a nanopore, reconstructing fundamental DNA thermodynamic properties from the sole speed of the process.