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 ...

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 ...

Physicists have discovered a surprising new “Island of Inversion” in a place no one expected: among nuclei where the number of protons equals the number of neutrons. For decades, these strange regions ...

Why do some elements decay in minutes, while others last billions of years? Certain "magic numbers" of nuclear particles may make all the difference. When you purchase through links on our site, we ...

Nuclear physics is a research area focused on the structure, dynamics, and interactions of atomic nuclei and their constituent nucleons, governed primarily by the strong and weak nuclear forces within ...