"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff."—Carl Sagan Almost ...

Physicists in Japan have blasted out the heaviest calcium nuclei ever seen—each containing the 20 protons needed to make the element, but with a huge number—40—of neutrons. That's twice as many ...

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 ...