Science begets science. In a letter to fellow natural philosopher Robert Hooke in 1676, Isaac Newton famously decreed that his own achievements were merely a matter of "standing on the shoulders of ...

In chemistry, we have He, Fe and Ca — but what about do, re and mi? Hauntingly beautiful melodies aren’t the first things that come to mind when looking at the periodic table of the elements. However, ...

A new study led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has measured how long it takes for several kinds of exotic nuclei to decay. The paper, published ...

Although science often advances through tried-and-tested methods, sometimes scientists have to find creative ways to test ...

Creating new heavy elements is a faint bit like working a pinball machine; it takes a nice judgment of speed. Last week a group of University of California scientists led by Professor Glenn Seaborg ...

Naturally occurring superheavy elements beyond those listed in the periodic table could potentially explain why asteroid 33 Polyhymnia is so dense, new research suggests. When you purchase through ...

An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into any other substance. Every element is made up of its own type of atom. This is why the chemical elements are all very different from each ...

Our modern lives depend on rare earth elements, and someday soon we may not have enough to meet growing demand. Because of their special properties, these 17 metallic elements are crucial ingredients ...

Rare earth elements are necessary for modern technology, including green energy, but they only come from a few sources around the globe. New research has discovered them hiding in coal mines in the ...