The gold in your jewelry and the uranium in nuclear power plants share a common and cataclysmic origin: they were born during ...

A team working at CERN has reported three discoveries that provide fresh insight into the nuclear reactions behind the creation of heavy elements during violent cosmic events. The research, published ...

Studies that explore how the denser sections of atoms, known as atomic nuclei, interact with neutrons (i.e., particles with no electric charge) can have valuable implications both for the ...

Gravitational-wave detectors have transformed the way we observe the Universe. Together with ground and space electromagnetic observatories, they have provided key insights into the long-standing ...

A machine learning-powered simulation is giving researchers a new window into the processes that create some of the universe’s heaviest elements.

Deep-sea crusts preserved plutonium traces from a rare ancient cosmic event, likely a neutron-star merger, dating back over ...

Electron-capture supernovae (ECSNe) are stellar explosions that occur in stars with initial masses around 8–10 times that of the sun. These stars develop oxygen-neon-magnesium cores, which become ...

(Craig Taylor/iStock/Getty Images Plus) A sprinkling of radioactive plutonium atoms hidden in the ocean floor may trace back ...

Researchers have detected the isotope plutonium-244 in the Pacific seabed. It was created by a cosmic explosion that occurred ...