Take a look at the periodic table and you’ll find that almost all the elements up to the atomic number 94 occur on Earth in relatively decent amounts. In addition, nuclear physicists can prepare ...

But most of the gold on Earth isn’t in our hands; it’s deep underground. During the planet’s formation, heavy elements like gold and platinum sank toward the molten iron core. Geologists estimate that ...

"This is probably the first time these isotopes have existed on the surface of the Earth." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

At the far end of the periodic table is a realm where nothing is quite as it should be. The elements here, starting at atomic number 104 (rutherfordium), have never been found in nature. In fact, they ...

Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in ...

“In particular, some observed asteroids surpass this mass density threshold. Especially noteworthy is the asteroid 33 ...

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 all ...

The periodic table lists 118 different chemical elements. And yet, for thousands of years, humans have really, really liked one of them in particular: gold. Gold has been used as money for millennia, ...

Ten elements that help make up the universe, including the carbon our biology is based on and the oxygen in the air we breathe, are now getting changed in an unprecedented way — they are getting their ...