Giant flares blasted out of supermagnetized stars called "magnetars" could forge planets' worth of gold and other heavy ...

Neutron stars are some of the weirdest cosmic objects, and the greatest mysteries lie deep in their hearts. Neutron stars are ...

However, the number of neutrons in an atom can vary, leading to different forms of elements, called isotopes. The recently observed type of oxygen is one such isotope – oxygen-28, which has 20 ...

Understanding the origin of heavy elements on the periodic table is one of the most challenging open problems in all of ...

The neutrons that are emitted by 235 U and other ... While most fast reactors are used to breed fuel for LWRs, another type aims to use all of the fuel locally. This type of fast reactor is ...

“Free neutrons are unstable and decay in about 15 min ... and plutonium in this material suggests that both elements may have been created in the same type of event, before coalescing into the newly ...

Electrons are one of the six types of lepton. Leptons are particles that can exist on their own. Protons and neutrons belong to the ‘family’ of hadrons. The hadrons are the heavier particles.

In the cores of neutron stars, the crushing pressures can squeeze apart atomic nuclei, and maybe even protons and neutrons themselves. Neutron stars' surface gravities are so intense that the ...