Physicists have measured the “skin” of an atom for the first time and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it is extremely thin. The measurement may help us understand the properties of neutron stars. Lead-208, ...

For three months in 2019, physicists blasted a beam of electrons at lead atoms that were held in place by foil made of diamond. The team was trying to determine the thickness of the neutron skin, the ...

Some atomic nuclei are thin-skinned — they’re surrounded by a slim shell of neutrons. Physicists now know how thick that neutron skin is for one particular type of nucleus. The skin of lead-208 — a ...

Neutrons have a huge amount of potential to advance science in various fields. To produce the free neutrons needed for scientific experimentation, a new facility is being constructed in Sweden. The ...

Heavy duty A high-energy photonic jet (white and blue) blasts through a collapsing star with a black hole at its centre. The cocoon where free neutrons may be available for the r-process is shown in ...