All the matter we know of in our Universe is made of both fundamental and composite particles. However, only a few of the fundamental particles are observed to be stable and not to decay into other ...

A new "bathtub" experiment has allowed physicists to measure the lifetime of a free neutron far more precisely than ever before. The breakthrough could help probe the fringes of the Standard Model of ...

The recent discovery of elements 113 and 115 will tell us more about the structure of the nucleus and the possible existence of the “island of stability”. The heaviest elements The periodic table of ...

In many ways, neutrons are mysterious. They are everywhere, present in the nucleus of all elements. Yet they can be difficult to detect: unlike protons or electrons, they possess no charge, and when ...

A system of four neutrons known as the tetraneutron is a hypothetical state in nuclear physics. The report of evidence for the fleeting existence of this state has implications for research into ...

Receive emails about upcoming NOVA programs and related content, as well as featured reporting about current events through a science lens. There are two areas that I find quite exciting. One is the ...

For the first time, astronomers have definitively ID’d a specific heavy element forged by a neutron star merger. Theories of physics have long predicted that about half of the universe’s heavy ...

The origin of heavy elements such as gold, lead and uranium has not yet been fully clarified. The lightest elements – hydrogen and helium – were already formed in significant quantities with the Big ...