The first generation of stars transformed the universe. Inside their cores, simple hydrogen and helium fused into a rainbow of elements. When these stars died, they exploded and sent these new ...

"Why are we here?" is humanity's most fundamental and persistent question. Tracing the origins of the elements is a direct ...

The results indicate that the elements essential for life formed within extreme, highly energetic environments deep inside ...

Scientists have found a star unlike any other one recorded—which may change our picture of how stars die. This unusual star, 13,000 light-years away, has an elemental makeup that suggests it was ...

Scientists working with the James Webb Space Telescope discovered three unusual astronomical objects in early 2025, which may ...

Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory studied a nuclear reaction and measured conditions that can explain how heavy elements are formed inside stars. Stars are mainly composed of light ...

For decades, astronomers have wondered what the very first stars in the universe were like. These stars formed new chemical elements, which enriched the universe and allowed the next generations of ...

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 ...

Gold holds incredible value in the markets of our world. But have you ever stopped to wonder where it comes from?

Over the course of billions of years, the universe has steadily been evolving. Thanks to the expansion of the universe, we are able to "see" back in time to watch that evolution, almost from the ...

How a medieval Oxford friar used light and color to find out what stars and planets are made of ...