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Categories: Energy: Nuclear, Mathematics: Puzzles

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High-temperature superconductor magnets have the potential to lower the costs of operating particle accelerators and enable powerful new technologies like fusion reactors. But quenches -- the sudden, destructive events wherein a part of the material loses superconductivity -- are a major barrier to their deployment. Scientists have developed an approach to prevent quenches altogether, rather than simply trying to manage them after they occur.

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Scientists are embracing imperfection, using less-than-ideal magnetic fields to make the plasma more manageable.

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Nuclear physicists have shattered a nearly 30-year-old record for precision in electron beam polarimetry. The groundbreaking result sets the stage for high-profile experiments that could open the door to new physics discoveries.

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Nuclear power is considered one of the ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but how to deal with nuclear waste products is a concern. Radioactive waste products can be turned into more stable elements, but this process is not yet viable at scale. New research reveals a method to more accurately measure, predict and model a key part of the process to make nuclear waste more stable. This could lead to improved nuclear waste treatment facilities and also to new theories about how some heavier elements in the universe came to be.

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In creating five new isotopes, scientists have brought the stars closer to Earth. The isotopes are known as thulium-182, thulium-183, ytterbium-186, ytterbium-187 and lutetium-190.

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Researchers have used equipment originally intended for astronomy observation to capture transformations in the nuclear structure of atomic nuclei, reports a new study.

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A more accurate way of identifying underground nuclear tests, including those conducted in secret, has been developed.

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Scientists completed several successful attempts to fire 28 kilojoules of laser energy at small capsules filled with deuterium and tritium fuel, causing the capsules to implode and produce a plasma hot enough to initiate fusion reactions between the fuel nuclei. These results demonstrate an effective 'spark plug' for direct-drive methods of inertial confinement fusion.

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Researchers recently succeeded in producing a highly durable time crystal that lived millions of times longer than could be shown in previous experiments. By doing so, they have corroborated an extremely interesting phenomenon that Nobel Prize laureate Frank Wilczek postulated around ten years ago and which had already found its way into science fiction movies.

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The springtime emergence of vast swarms of cicadas can be explained by a mathematical model of collective decision-making with similarities to models describing stock market crashes.

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Emerging research suggests it may be easier to use fusion as a power source if liquid lithium is applied to the internal walls of the device housing the plasma. Past experiments studied solid lithium coatings and found they could enhance a plasma. The researchers were pleased they could yield similar results with liquid lithium, as it's better suited for use in a large-scale tokamak.

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New research conducted by nuclear physicists is using a method that connects theories of gravitation to interactions among the smallest particles of matter. The result is insight into the strong force, a powerful mediator of particle interactions in the subatomic realm. The research has revealed, for the first time, a snapshot of the distribution of the shear strength of the strong force inside the proton -- or how strong an effort must be to overcome the strong force to move an object it holds in its grasp. At its peak, the nuclear physicists found that a force of over four metric tons would be required to overcome the binding power of the strong force.

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Antineutrinos generated in nuclear fission can be measured to remotely monitor the operation of nuclear reactors and verify that they are not being used to produce nuclear weapons, report scientists. Thanks to a newly developed method, it is now possible to estimate a reactor's operation status, fuel burnup, and fuel composition based entirely on its antineutrino emissions. This technique could contribute massively to nuclear non-proliferation efforts and, in turn, safer nuclear energy.

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New findings debunk previous wisdom that solid-state qubits need to be super dilute in an ultra-clean material to achieve long lifetimes. Instead, cram lots of rare-earth ions into a crystal and some will form pairs that act as highly coherent qubits, a new paper shows.

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At-risk individuals, such as those with known gaming and gambling problems, are more likely to engage with loot boxes than those without. The study is the result of one of the largest, most complex and robustly designed surveys yet conducted on loot boxes, and has prompted experts to reiterate the call for stricter enforcement around them.

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During X-ray diffraction experiments, bright lasers shine on a sample, producing diffracted images that contain important information about the material's structure and properties. But conventional methods of analyzing these images can be contentious, time-consuming, and often ineffective, so scientists are developing deep learning models to better leverage the data.

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A recent advance could enable more efficient compact fusion reactors that are easier to repair and maintain.

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Oceans cover most of Earth's surface and support a staggering number of lifeforms, but they're also home to a dilute population of uranium ions. And -- if we can get these particular ions out of the water -- they could be a sustainable fuel source to generate nuclear power. Researchers have now developed a material to use with electrochemical extraction that attracts hard-to-get uranium ions from seawater more efficiently than existing methods.

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How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth. The finding deepens our understanding of element formation in stars.

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Engineers have achieved a world first by manufacturing the first back-contact micrometric photovoltaic cells.