For the first time, physicists have developed a model that explains the origins of unusually stable magic nuclei based ...

A mathematical equivalent of a microscope with variable resolution has shed light on why some atoms are exceptionally stable, a riddle that has persisted in nuclear physics for decades ...

Back in the 1930s, physicists were doing experiments involving what they called "beta decay." They observed that an element would suddenly spit out a fast-moving electron, and once it was done, it ...

Alpha decay represents a fundamental mode of radioactive disintegration wherein an unstable nucleus emits an alpha particle—a tightly bound cluster of two protons and two neutrons. This process not ...

Solving life's great mysteries often requires detective work, using observed outcomes to determine their cause. For instance, nuclear physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson ...