Our remarkable ability to perform complex tasks—such as thinking, observing, and touch—stems from proteins, the tiny nanometer-sized molecules in the body. Despite decades of research, our understanding of the structure and function of such molecular machines within the cellular environment remains limited. In a new work that appeared in “Science Advances,” scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) show that optical microscopy under cryogenic conditions can resolve specific sites within the mechanosensitive protein PIEZO1 with Ångström precision – even within native cell membranes.