Physicists have found a new “island of inversion” in the nucleus of molybdenum-84, a perfectly balanced atom with equal numbers of protons and neutrons. The discovery upends a decades-old assumption ...

The study is part of Henna Kokkonen's doctoral thesis. Credit: Tommi Sassi For the first time in almost 30 years, the heaviest nucleus decaying via proton emission has been measured. The previous ...

Physicists have discovered a surprising new “Island of Inversion” in a place no one expected: among nuclei where the number ...

Physicists working with molybdenum-84, a nucleus containing exactly 42 protons and 42 neutrons, have found that this seemingly balanced atom defies one of nuclear physics’ longest-standing ...

For the first time in more than thirty years, the heaviest nucleus decaying via proton emission has been measured. The previous similar breakthrough was achieved in 1996. The radioactive decay of ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Nuclear isomers are crucial probes for studying the structure of nuclei. Unlike chemical isomers—which have the same chemical formula but different arrangements of atoms—nuclear isomers are nuclei ...

Mirror magic: The "cores" of the exotic nuclei oxygen-22 and silicon-22 both resemble that of oxygen-16, with eight protons and eight neutrons. The neutron-rich oxygen isotope contains an additional ...

For the first time, quarks and gluons were used to describe properties of atomic nuclei, which until now had been explained by the existence of protons and neutrons. The temporary pair of correlated ...

Protons are particles that exist in the nucleus of all atoms, with their number defining the elements themselves. Protons, however, are not fundamental particles. Rather, they are composite particles ...

A new measurement of the strong nuclear force, which binds protons and neutrons together, confirms previous hints of an uncomfortable truth: We still don’t have a solid theoretical grasp of even the ...

Scientists have found a new way to 'see' inside the simplest atomic nuclei to better understand the 'glue' that holds the building blocks of matter together. The results come from collisions of ...