This image depicts the radium atom’s pear-shaped nucleus of protons and neutrons in the center, surrounded by a cloud of electrons (yellow), and an electron (yellow ball with arrow) that has a ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Scientists at MIT discovered a method to create a kind of particle accelerator using a molecule of radium monofluoride. Once excited by lasers in a ...

MIT researchers have devised a new molecular technique that lets electrons probe inside atomic nuclei, replacing massive particle accelerators with a tabletop setup. By studying radium monofluoride, ...