A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)-led research team has discovered evidence of liquid nitrogen rising to the surface of Pluto through cracks in the dwarf planet’s heart-shaped glacier, Sputnik Planitia.

According to the researchers behind the detection, the liquid nitrogen evidence captured by NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft is the first evidence of any liquid flowing on Pluto. They also suggest that the discovery could help scientists better understand other solar system features such as the geysers on Neptune’s moon Triton.

New Horizons Mission Gave First Hint of Liquid Nitrogen on Pluto

When New Horizons captured images of Pluto’s surface between 2015 and 2016, it gathered extensive imagery of a massive surface feature called Sputnik Planitia. Larger than Texas and Oklahoma combined, the frozen nitrogen lake has long fascinated planetary scientists.

When examining the spacecraft’s photos, researchers spotted thin, dark, linear features separating the city-sized geologic convection cells on Sputnik Planitia’s northernmost portions. Critically, the thinner, separating features were more diffuse than the larger ones. Although some previous studies suggested that Pluto may have a liquid water ocean beneath its frozen outer shell, the surface temperatures would prevent any of that water from flowing on the surface long enough to cause the features.

Some theories proposed a liquid nitrogen explanation for the thinner features, even though the research team behind the discovery said that Pluto’s atmospheric and thermal conditions make liquid rain physically impossible. Still, the team notes, the surface patterns on Pluto’s northern Sputnik Planitia “have been darkened in ways that resemble glacial features on Earth that have been wetted by water rain or the subsurface emergence of liquids to the surface.”

To better understand the data, SwRI Associate Vice President and principal investigator on the New Horizons mission, Dr. Alan Stern, reexamined the data, focusing on similar features on Earth.

Sputnik Planitia Evidence “Very Similar” to Greenland Ice Sheet Features

To start, Dr. Stern and colleagues compared the New Horizons images with Earth imagery collected by NASA’s Landsat 9. The researchers focused on the Greenland Ice Sheet, since similar surface features caused by liquid water separating ice and snow have been previously observed.

When focusing on topography, the team said the two regions appeared “very similar.” This similarity suggested that subsurface liquids in the form of nitrogen were rising to the surface and wetting areas of Sputnik Planitia’s nitrogen ice.

SwRI Principal Scientist Dr. Kelsi Singer, one of the study’s co-authors, said Sputnik Planitia’s surface is “quite young” in geological terms, with most estimates placing it at less than one million years. As a result, the dark, thin surface features must have formed during that short window of time.

“Pluto has many unique terrains seen nowhere else in the solar system, and this area of Sputnik Planitia is one of them,” Dr Singer explained. “Its surface provides a different set of conditions compared to what we are used to on Earth, and exploring that allows us to better understand how materials behave in environments that are difficult to produce on Earth.”

To support the visual evidence of liquid nitrogen on Pluto, Dr. Orkan Umurhan, a senior research scientist at the SETI Institute, oversaw the creation of computer models designed to simulate the dwarf planet’s local environment. According to the study authors, the models “show that nitrogen ice at the base of Pluto’s kilometers-deep Sputnik glacier can melt, forming liquid nitrogen.”

The same models also revealed that buoyancy and pressure from underneath can cause liquid nitrogen to migrate to Pluto’s surface via a series of small conduits that resemble lava or geyser tubes. Although the dwarf planet’s distance from the Sun makes it an extremely frigid environment, the models also suggested that once liquid nitrogen reaches Pluto’s surface, it can maintain liquid form long enough to flow down the nitrogen glacier slopes and cause the features seen in the images.

“Pluto Never Stops Surprising Us”

When discussing the significance of the findings, Dr. Umurhan pointed to the study’s  “tantalizing picture that it promotes,” including potentially motivating a further examination of solid-state nitrogen physics at very low temperatures.

“Specifically, it’s important to examine the physics taking place in solid nitrogen materials under stress and strain, which can cause them to melt,” the study author explained, adding that these processes “have never been studied in real detail in the laboratory.”

The SwRI-led team also noted that over half of Pluto remains unmapped in high resolution, meaning there is still a lot of room for future discoveries. This includes further mapping of the other Kuiper Belt planets “to determine if similar processes are occurring elsewhere in that region of the solar system.”

Finally, the SwRI-led team said the findings could offer some assistance in explaining other events across the solar system, such as the geysers observed by NASA’s Voyager 2 on Neptune’s moon Triton.

“Pluto never stops surprising us, and this new result certainly does that,” Stern concluded. “In addition to suggesting that liquids have recently expressed themselves on Pluto’s surface, it also suggests a new kind of time-variable feature on Pluto.”

The study “Evidence for possible N2 basal flow beneath Pluto’s northern Sputnik Planitia” was published in The Planetary Science Journal.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Researchers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have demonstrated the potential for using THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, to treat or even eliminate debilitating nightmares associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The researchers behind the findings said that THC did not reduce other PTSD symptoms, such as the condition’s severity or depression. However, they plan to further explore its ability to treat nightmares, including the potential safety and efficacy associated with long-term use.

PTSD Nightmares Cause Sleep Deprivation and Fear of Going to Sleep

According to a statement from the Charité team, people who survive or witness extreme experiences such as abuse, war, disasters, or other acts of violence can become overwhelmed and unable to consciously process their experience. As a result, many experience what researchers term an “echo,” where the subconscious tries to process the trauma. The more common term for the experience is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

People suffering from this condition often report nightmares as one of the most persistent and debilitating symptoms. Along with the horror associated with continuously reliving their traumas, sometimes on a nightly basis, sufferers also experience severe sleep deprivation. These problems are then compounded by a fear of going to sleep and experiencing nightmares repeatedly.

Attempts to treat PTSD related nightmares have found mixed results. For example, some doctors have prescribed antidepressants or blood pressure-lowering medications to treat the symptoms. However, the research team notes that pharmacological treatments are only partially effective, and “often fail to adequately relieve” PTSD-related nightmares.

There is one medication specifically approved for treating PTSD-induced nightmares. However, the team notes, it is not yet widely available, including in Germany where the study was performed. 

Exploring Alternative Treatments

To explore alternative treatment solutions, Prof. Stefan Röpke, who conducts research on trauma-related disorders at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences on the Benjamin Franklin Campus of Charité, and colleagues designed experiments around tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

Although widely used for recreational purposes, cannabis has shown some promise for treating a wide variety of medical and psychological conditions. Still, until recently, the drug’s legal status has limited its medical applications, offering researchers a potentially untapped source of PTSD nightmare relief.

For this study, Professor Röpke and colleagues were interested in THC’s established interactions with the human body’s endocannabinoid system. That’s because this system plays a role in sleep regulation, stress, and the processing of emotional memories.

For example, the professor explained, some evidence suggests that THC reduces activity during REM sleep. Known as the dream state, REM sleep is an intense dream phase during which “the brain processes experiences and regulates emotions.

“THC reduces dream activity and thereby alleviates nocturnal stress responses,” the professor explained.

More Than a Third Report Complete Elimination of Nightmares

To start, the team enlisted more than 170 study participants. Critically, all participants suffered from PTSD and intense nightmares, resulting in sleep deprivation and a fear of going to sleep. Instead of smoking cannabis, the researchers administered a form of cannabis-derived THC drops called Dronabinol. As a legal medication, this form of THC is considered clinically safe.

During the ten-week study period, each participant was instructed to take the drops before bedtime. Half of the participants received THC drops, while the others received cannabis-flavored placebo drops. To maintain double-blind study integrity, neither the participants nor the researchers knew who received which treatment.

After the trial period finished, the researchers discovered several positive results. Most notably, the THC group reported a significant decrease in nightmares compared to the placebo group.

According to the study authors, when ranking a participant’s “nightmare burden” on a scale of zero to eight points, participants’ scores dropped by an average of 3.7 points. For comparison, the placebo group experienced an average drop of 2.2 points.

Perhaps even more significant, Professor Röpke said that “more than a third” of the THC patients reported a complete absence of nightmares after the ten-week period concluded. The professor also noted that 21 percent of the study participants reported that their nightmare burden had been at least cut in half. Finally, the professor said that five out of six study participants in the THC group “felt their health had markedly improved.”

Exploring the Safety and Efficacy of Long-Term THC Use

Although the study results offer some possible hope for relief from nightmares and improved sleep, the researchers said the THC treatments did not affect all PTSD symptoms. For example, they observed that a participant’s PTSD severity and any accompanying depression “did not change conclusively.”

No severe side effects were reported by the THC group. However, the researchers did observe some minor complaints, such as headaches, dizziness, or increased appetite. Participants did not report any withdrawal symptoms after the cessation of the treatment period.

Moving forward, the team will explore the safety and effectiveness of long-term nightly THC treatments. They also hope to explore whether patients develop a tolerance to THC’s nightmare-abating effects over time.

The study “Dronabinol for nightmares in post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial” was published in Nature Medicine.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Scientists from the Beijing Institute of Technology have revealed a colloidal quantum dot (CQD)-based infrared-to-visible upconverter that transforms the infrared spectrum into full color, allowing people to ‘see’ the infrared in the visible light spectrum.

The research team behind the novel invention said their upconverter can be used in eyeglasses to improve human vision and for augmented reality (AR) applications. They also reported a successful implantation of an upconverter in mice, opening the possibility of an implantable photoreceptor to repair or improve vision in human eyes.

Attempts to Convert Infrared to Full Color Face Limitations

In a published study detailing the novel, full-color IR glasses, the human eye is “inherently blind” to infrared radiation. Although IR radiation interacts with the retina, infrared wavelengths lack the energy to trigger the photoisomerization of the retinal chromophore that lets people distinguish colors. As a result, humans don’t have visual access to over half of the solar spectrum.

Still, the researchers write, “harnessing this imperceptible radiation is critical, as infrared perception unlocks a vast reservoir of inaccessible information.” For example, this added visual information enables critical functions in other animals, such as navigation in darkness or detecting predators and prey from their heat. Still, they observe that our natural visual-light spectrum vision is “utterly inadequate” to access this information that so many animals rely upon.

In their study, the researchers highlight recent advances in accessing the IR spectrum, including “ocular injectable photoreceptor-binding upconversion nanoparticles” that convert infrared light into visible emissions. Other studies have also evaluated wearable lenses with nonlinear upconversion projecting infrared-transformed visible light onto the cornea and photovoltaic nanowire networks.

Although these approaches achieved some IR sensitivity, the study authors said they remain “fundamentally constrained” to narrow near-infrared (NIR) spectral response. These prior efforts also relied on high-intensity laser excitation that the team notes is “incompatible with natural infrared radiation.” The result is a “mostly monochromatic output” lacking infrared spectral discrimination in full color.

Subtle IR Wavelength Variations Facilitate Upconversion

For their new approach, the research team investigated a mercury telluride (HgTe) CQD-based infrared-to-visible upconverter. They note that this material combination leverages the material’s “quantized energy level states” in synergy with a separate, dual-emissive-layer organic light-emitting diode (OLED).

Specifically, the engineered layers captured IR photons in strategically engineered hole-trapping barriers. The team explains that this “allows for subtle differentiation of infrared input by tuning the emitted visible color and luminance” based on infrared wavelength and intensity.

“This upconversion yields a discrimination sensitivity to subtle infrared variations exceeding two orders of magnitude higher than conventional single-color modes, capitalizing on the human eye’s intrinsic superiority in chromatic differentiation over simple luminance contrast,” they explain.

To test their material’s IR upconversion ability, the researchers designed a pair of lightweight (23 grams) semi-transparent wearable eyeglasses. The team said these tests were a success, achieving “high-resolution infrared imaging” derived from the infrared spectral information. However, instead of monochrome, the research team said that data is displayed as full-color visible patterns directly onto the retina, “enabling intuitive infrared vision without obstructing natural sight.”

Surpassing the Evolutionary Boundaries of Biological Photoreception

Although the current version of the full-color, infrared-capable glasses is still in the development stages, the team said the technology could lead to advancements in visual prosthetics, augmented reality (AR), and “navigation under environmental conditions where normal sight is degraded.”

Following the successful validation in mice, the team said their technology could also serve as the technological basis for an implantable new-generation retinal photoreceptor. In that design, the team said an implanted device could transform infrared light into visible light emissions “that stimulate light-sensitive proteins on retinal neurons to bypass damaged photoreceptor cells and potentially restore visual function across both the visible and infrared spectra.”

“By surpassing the evolutionary boundaries of biological photoreception, this technology paves the way for next-generation visual prosthetics, high-fidelity augmented reality, molecularly sensitive substance identification, and robust navigation in degraded visual environments,” they conclude.

The study “Multispectral infrared-to-full-color upconversion expanding human vision” was published in Science Advances.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Scientists from the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) in Heidelberg, Germany, have announced the first successful detection of antineutrinos from an inactive nuclear reactor.

The research team behind the historic achievement said that detecting antineutrinos, which they described as “the most elusive particle in the Universe,” could improve monitoring, maintenance, safety, and security of nuclear reactors.

Hunting for ‘Faint Flux’ of Antineutrinos Inside Shutdown Nuclear Reactors

In a statement announcing the detection, the researchers point out that even when nuclear fission reactors are turned off,  “the story inside the reactor core still has a great deal to tell.”

For example, the long-lived fission products inside nuclear reactors continue to decay for months, or in some cases, years after a reactor is no longer in use. This ongoing radioactive decay can produce what the team termed a “faint flux” of the most elusive particle in the universe: antineutrinos.

Because antineutrinos interact only extremely weakly with matter, they pass almost unhindered through the reactor vessel and surrounding shielding. In theory, the right equipment could detect this activity, offering insights into the reactor’s radioactive inner core.

Fortunately, for MPIK study leader Anthony Onillon and co-leader Thierry Lassere from the independent research group OMINA, also located at MPIK, there is an underground detector around 400 meters from two reactor cores, which were part of the region’s Chooz reactor in northern France.

Dubbed ‘Double Chooz,’ the detector contains over 30 cubic meters of liquid “scintillator.” According to the study authors, when antineutrinos interact with this material, a detectable flash of light is emitted.

“Antineutrinos interact only extremely rarely with matter,” Lasserre explained. “However, when one interacts within the Double-Chooz detector, a characteristic double-light signal is produced that can be distinguished from background events.”

Observing the ‘Faint Glow’ of Radioactivity

To search for the weak antineutrino signal from the decaying Chooz nuclear reactor material, the research team evaluated recorded data from a 17.2-day period when both reactors were shut down. Because antineutrinos interact so rarely with matter, the researchers searched for the characteristic paired flashes produced when one underwent inverse beta decay inside the detector.

After scanning through the data, the team said they found evidence for roughly 100 “antineutrino candidate events” originating from within the reactors. This included signals from the cores and nearby spent-fuel cooling pools.

The researchers said the measured signal “agrees remarkably well” with simulations of the remaining fuel inventory and the decay of long-lived fission products.The team said this detection marks the first direct experimental validation of the antineutrino emissions predicted by the shutdown reactor models.

“With this new work, the experiment has achieved another first: observing the faint neutrino glow that remains after a reactor goes dark,” the research team explained.

New Perspectives for Reactor Monitoring, Nuclear Safety, and Safeguards

When discussing the significance of the achievement, Dr. Onillon noted that previous efforts have primarily focused on operational nuclear reactors, where the antineutrino flux is much larger. Conversely, their detection was made under challenging conditions using methods perfected by the team.

“Detecting the tiny residual signal after shutdown required exceptionally low backgrounds and careful analysis techniques developed by the Double Chooz collaboration over many years,” the researcher explained.

When discussing the experiment’s practical applications, the team noted that the work provides researchers and regulators with “the first published benchmark” of the antineutrino glow coming from shutdown reactors and spent fuel pools. In theory, such detection could provide information on a reactor during both operational and maintenance phases.

“The results demonstrate that antineutrino detectors can probe nuclear reactors even during shutdown periods, opening new perspectives for reactor monitoring, nuclear safety, and safeguards,” they conclude, adding that such detections “may become relevant for independent verification of reactor status and spent-fuel inventories.”

The study “First measurement of neutrino emissions from spent nuclear fuel by the Double Chooz experiment” was published in Physical Review Letters.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

The German eROSITA Consortium (eROSITA-DE), led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), has completed the most comprehensive census of the high-energy universe ever assembled.

Released as eROSITA Data Release 2 (DR2), the new high-energy universe catalog includes nearly two million X-ray sources, essentially doubling the number cataloged in DR1. The team behind the achievement said the new catalog, which has been made available to the wider scientific community, marks a “major step forward” in mapping the entire high-energy universe.

“DR2 is the best inventory of the X-ray sky we have to date and opens the door to robust statistical studies of cosmic populations,” explained Miriam E. Ramos-Ceja, Ground Segment Manager of the eROSITA instrument and lead author of the DR2 publication.

High-Energy Universe Catalog Nearly Doubles Previous Sources

DR2 was built from the first three scans captured by the eROSITA telescope during the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission. According to a statement emailed to The Debrief, the new high-energy map combined data from multiple passes over the sky, significantly increasing the instrument’s survey depth.

After beginning its mission in December 2019, the observatory surveyed the entire sky every six months. This mission length increased the scans’ depth and sensitivity. The new DR2 includes data captured during the mission’s first 556 days. MPE scientists said the final catalog comprises three “full sky surveys.”

“By stacking these observations, the survey reaches significantly fainter fluxes than the first release, enabling the large increase in detected sources,” they explained. 

The approach also revealed a large population of previously uncatalogued systems.

For example, the DR2 catalog includes nearly two million X-ray sources detected in the 0.2–2.3 keV band. The survey also revealed over 1.9 million “point-like sources.” The team said these detections are “primarily stars and actively accreting supermassive black holes.” The survey also added around 64,000 extended sources, including newly cataloged galaxy clusters, nearby galaxies, and supernova remnants.

The Full Diversity of the X-ray Sky

Along with the primary catalog, the new release includes a complementary “hard-band” catalog that includes 15,000 sources detected at higher energies (2.3–5.0 keV). The team said these detections revealed “heavily obscured and intrinsically energetic systems” that scans performed at ‘softer’ X-ray energies typically overlook.

“Together, these catalogues capture the full diversity of the X-ray sky, from nearby stellar coronae to distant supermassive black holes and massive galaxy clusters,” the team explained, adding that many of the cataloged objects are newly identified in X-rays, while others “can now be studied with substantially improved precision.”

Although more analysis is needed to accurately characterize every high-energy source discovered by the new survey, the team said the DR2 includes “multi-wavelength information” that associates the newly cataloged X-ray detections with their most likely optical and infrared counterparts.

“X-ray detection is only the first step,” explains Mara Salvato, eROSITA spokesperson and chair of the follow-up working group. “By linking X-ray sources to their counterparts at other wavelengths, we can work out what these objects are, where they sit on the cosmic distance ladder, and build clean, well-defined samples on an unprecedented scale.”

This data suggests that approximately 88% of the newly discovered sources come from outside the Milky Way Galaxy. The team said the new sources are “dominated by accreting supermassive black holes.” 

Data Suggests Unexpected Abundance of Rapidly Growing Black Holes

When discussing the significance of the new DR2 high-energy catalog, the team highlighted its coincidental release with the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).

“By combining SDSS spectroscopy with eROSITA’s X-ray data, researchers can build three-dimensional maps of active black holes across the sky, revealing how these rapidly growing objects are distributed and evolve across cosmic time,” they explained.

For example, combining eROSITA’s X-ray catalog with the SDSS spectroscopic and photometric redshift data has already resulted in what the team described as “one of the largest and most detailed studies of accreting supermassive black holes to date.” The researchers said these “elusive objects” formed surprisingly early in the history of the Universe, so capturing new data of their growth at high redshift is invaluable.

“The most luminous black holes at high redshift are like needles in a haystack,” explained the corresponding study’s lead author, William Roster. “Thanks to DR2 we found more needles than expected, suggesting that rapidly growing black holes were more abundant in the early Universe than previously thought” 

New World Record of X-ray Sources Won’t Be the Last

Due to a pre-existing agreement between the German and Russian eROSITA consortia, the new DR2 covers the western Galactic hemisphere. However, the researchers note, within this region of the sky, the new catalog “represents the largest and most homogeneous public X-ray dataset currently available.”

eROSITA Principal Investigator Andrea Merloni said the new dataset of unprecedented scale and completeness has been made available to the global astronomical community. MPE Director Kirpal Nandra agreed, adding that the MPE team hopes the most complete catalog of high-energy sources ever assembled will provide “a unique foundation for discoveries ranging from rare objects to large-scale population studies.”

“eROSITA just set another world record in terms of X-ray source numbers – and it won’t be the last,” Merloni concluded.

The eROSITA-DE DR2 catalogs, upper-flux-limit server, and full documentation are publicly accessible via the eROSITA-DE Science Data Archive.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Just 10 days after beginning its first trial operations, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has announced that scientists operating its new High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) have successfully detected the “extremely rare” hafnium-153 isotope.

The international research team behind the achievement said the hafnium-153 observation is the first physics result achieved since the facility’s commissioning, which highlights its ability to aid scientists in exploring the “boundaries of the nuclear landscape.”

Detection of 10 Hafnium-153 Isotopes Represents Facility’s First “Physics Result”

According to a press release from the team, which was led by the State Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Science and Technology affiliated with the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), exploring unknown isotopes and determining the limits of nuclear existence “are key frontiers of nuclear physics.”

Located in Huizhou in South China’s Guangdong Province, the HIAF facility is a world-class next-generation heavy-ion accelerator specifically designed to explore these “key frontiers” at extremely high energies.

To search for the rare hafnium-153 isotope, HIAF’s Booster Ring (Bring) delivered a primary beam of bismuth-209 onto agraphite target. Due to the energies involved, the collision produced radioactive nuclei through a process called projectile fragmentation reactions.

To maintain purity, the team purified and transported it via the facility’s High-rigidity Radioactive Ion Beam Line (HIRIBL). Next, the beam is injected into the Spectrometer Ring. Here, the scientists were able to perform “isochronous mass spectrometry” to make precision measurements.

Although the facility’s first physics result resulted in what the team described as an “extremely low production cross section,” the experiment was still a success. After a close count, the team identified spectral signatures for ten hafnium-153 ions.

Critically, the team’s detection was independently replicated at Japan’s Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF) at RIKEN, which also reported the observation of hafnium-153. The team said the dual detections provide mutual confirmation and “further highlight the significance of this isotope in nuclear physics research.”

An Important Advance in Probing the Limits of Nuclear Existence

When discussing the implications of the facility’s rare isotope detection, the team said that the results suggest that hafnium-153 is either a bound or weakly bound isotope, which matches predictions from nuclear mass models made before the experiments. The researchers also noted that this isotope is located within the neutron-deficient heavy nuclear region, so its detection offers scientists “a unique window into the evolution of nuclear structure and the limits of nuclear stability.”

“Its observation and precise measurement provide critical experimental information for testing nuclear models and advancing our understanding of nuclear structure,” they explained.

Beyond the scientific value, the team noted that the detection showcases the facility’s capabilities mere days into its operational phase. For example, HIAF’s high-intensity heavy-ion beams demonstrated the ability to enhance the production of rare isotopes. The facility’s high-performance beam line also successfully enabled efficient separation of the nuclei of interest, while its SRing’s isochronous mass spectrometry provides “single-ion”  level sensitivity for precision identification and measurement of rare nuclei such as hafnium-153.

Moving forward, the team said that further improvements in beam intensity and increases in experimental efficiency are expected to make HIAF an increasingly important tool for discovering new isotopes. They also note the facility’s goals of aiding the investigation of nuclear properties “under extreme conditions” for such fundamental research.

“This new achievement not only marks an important advance in probing the limits of nuclear existence but also opens the door to broader scientific exploration at HIAF,” they explained.

The study “Discovery of isotope hafnium-153 near the proton drip line via isochronous mass spectrometry: extending the nuclear landscape with HIAF” was published in Science Bulletin.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org