Some atoms are stable, while others seem to fall apart. Lead-208 will probably last forever, while the synthetic isotope technetium-99 exists for just hours. The difference lies in the structure of ...

Scientists have managed to uncover a new magic number that could help us rethink and redefine the origins of everything that exists in our Universe. A team of physicists at the Institute of Modern ...

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 ...

Atomic nuclei are often described as orderly systems. Certain numbers of protons or neutrons, called magic numbers, usually produce especially stable and spherical nuclei. These numbers fill entire ...