What other things that aren’t the shadows do you use to find out how the proteins look like?

Question: What other things that aren't the shadows do you use to find out how the proteins look like?
- Keywords:
  protein,
  shadow
Asked by anon-232883 to Varun on 19 Nov 2019.
- Varun Ramaswamy answered on 19 Nov 2019:
  
  Hey Angela!
  
  Thats a beautiful question.
  
  So here is the deal about my job – get clues about the 3D shapes. and use those clues to solve the mystery and find the 3D shape.
  Shadows are just one type of clue that help you find the shapes.
  But there are other clues that you can get too, depending on how you hold a lamp behind an object.
  
  Have you seen how waves in the sea sparkle during a hot day? Thats because the sunlight bounces off of them. In the same way, X-rays bouncing off my proteins can create sparkling spots on a screen.. and the pattern of spots changes for different shapes of the protein!
  This technique called X-ray diffraction, is another brilliant technique to find the shapes of proteins, WITHOUT using shadows. But I have to say, spots are waaaay more difficult to work with than shadows. 🙂

Question: What other things that aren't the shadows do you use to find out how the proteins look like?