Freestanding clusters of twenty gold atoms take the shape of a pyramid, researchers discovered. This is in contrast with most elements, which organize themselves by forming shells around one central ...

A report published in the July 8 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is the first to describe the principles behind the stability and electronic properties of ...

The familiar lighter-than-air gas filling birthday balloons has a rare isotope: a nucleus consisting of two protons and a single neutron called helium-3. But instead of using this gas for fanciful ...

What do atoms look like? This is actually an impossible question to answer: Atoms are so tiny that we can't see them using light, even looking through the most powerful lenses and microscopes. The ...