Unstable atoms emit fast-moving particles that can damage cells in the human body. Some atoms are far more unstable than ...

In this video, we explore the origins of the first atom, tracing back to the big bang, where immense energy condensed to form ...

A new study suggests that the positively charged particles may have an outsize influence on the properties of neutron stars and other neutron-rich objects. Neutron stars are the smallest, densest ...

Inside each proton or neutron there are three quarks bound by gluons. Until now, it has often been assumed that two of them form a "stable" pair known as a diquark. It seems, however, that it's the ...

According to the classical model of nuclear structure, the internal structure of nucleons should not change if they are bound into atomic nuclei. But it was discovered 35 years ago that quarks inside ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it. Things happen fast in the earliest stages of the Universe. In the first ...

A new study identifies a transition in the strong nuclear force that illuminates the structure of a neutron star's core. Most ordinary matter is held together by an invisible subatomic glue known as ...

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Examining the smallest parts of the universe often takes the biggest kinds of equipment. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a unique piece of equipment the size of a building is ...

HEISENBERG has discussed the hypothesis that the nucleus of an atom is composed of neutrons and protons only, the neutron being regarded as a fundamental entity and not as a combination of an electron ...

Physicists have found the strongest sign yet of a fabled four of a kind. For six decades, researchers have hunted for clusters of four neutrons called tetraneutrons. But evidence for their existence ...

The formation of cosmic structure, on both large scales and small scales, is highly dependent on how dark matter and normal matter interact. Despite the indirect evidence for dark matter, we'd love to ...