In Vienna and Beijing, the first (thorium) nuclear clocks begin to tick

The actual journal article, since NYT didn't bother linking to it: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11084-4

austin-cheney 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

According to Wikipedia thorium is probably created from neutron stars or supernovae making it one of the rarest elements in the galaxy. But, it’s quite abundant on Earth, maybe 3x as abundant as Uranium on earths crust. Because of this abundance it is, along with Radon, the primary constituent of earths natural background radiation.

	▲	fnordpiglet 15 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Iron is the last element that can form through a sustaining fusion process. All elements above iron are formed in super nova or neutron star collisions. Specifically gold and platinum are thought to be formed primarily in neutron star collisions Reality is amazing!!

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writtenone 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

archived no paywall: https://nonograph.com/in-vienna-and-beijing-the-first-nuclea...