By combining a powerful set of instruments with some experimental savvy, physicists have for the first time detected oxygen-28 — an isotope of oxygen that has 12 extra neutrons packed into its nucleus. Scientists have long predicted that this isotope is unusually stable. But initial observations of the 28O nucleus suggest that this isn’t the case: it disintegrates rapidly after creation, a team reports in Nature today1. If the results can be replicated, physicists might need to update theories of how atomic nuclei are structured.
To read more, click here.