Fusion Boost: Promising path to heavy nuclei

Making heavy, artificial atomic nuclei has long been part of the program for answering fundamental questions about matter and the universe, but it hasn’t been easy. Physicists are looking toward techniques that forge hefty nuclei by fusing lighter, radioactive ones. Now, results of an accelerator experiment at Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory suggest that the approach may prove even more fruitful than many nuclear scientists had anticipated.