External news and journal publications discussing FRIB science.

  • 12 February 2025
  • Nature

In a recent Nature article, scientists—including researchers from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams—measured the energy width of a lithium-7 nucleus in beryllium-7 decay, setting a lower limit on the spatial extent of neutrino wavepackets. The findings provide insights into neutrino properties and weak nuclear decays.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08479-6
  • 1 February 2025
  • Physics Today

Recent experimental discoveries are reshaping how scientists view atomic nuclei. Traditionally, nuclei have been classified as either stable or unstable, but this binary distinction overlooks the wide range of nuclear lifetimes, from fleeting moments to times far exceeding the age of the universe. Witek Nazarewicz, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Physics and chief scientist at FRIB, and Lee Sobotka, professor of chemistry and physics at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote an article about the discoveries for Physics Today.

https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/78/2/30/3332562/The-lessons-learned-f…
  • 31 January 2025
  • Physical Review Letters

Physical Review Letters has selected the reporting the first new-isotope discovery at FRIB for its Collection of the Year 2024

https://promo.aps.org/PRL2024
  • 14 January 2025
  • American Physical Society

The discovery of an isotope, rutherfordium-252, whose ground state forestalls fission for just 60 nanoseconds, could help theorists understand the cosmic synthesis of superheavy elements.

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v18/8
  • 9 January 2025
  • Physical Review C

An Editor's Suggestion in Physical Review C featured a submission authored by a team of scientists that included FRIB researchers. The scientists measured the mass of tin-103, which is just three neutrons away from tin-100, laying the foundation for future high-precision mass measurements of tin-100. The measurement took place using the Low Energy Beam and Ion Trap (LEBIT) located at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). 

https://journals.aps.org/prc/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevC.111.014314
  • 15 December 2024
  • WLNS

Supported by a new Strategic Partnership Grant from the Michigan State University Research Foundation, an interdisciplinary team will establish a framework on MSU’s campus that streamlines the development of a promethium-149-based radiopharmaceutical as an effective prostate cancer therapeutic. This integrated system will use cutting-edge facilities including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB; the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, better known as IQ; as well as newly expanded radiochemistry laboratories in MSU’s Department of Chemistry.  

https://www.wlns.com/news/msu-testing-new-prostate-cancer-treatment/
  • 12 December 2024
  • Nature Physics

Calculating the energy levels and their properties in a nucleus is a formidable task. The nuclear shell model has been very successful in describing many properties of atomic nuclei, such as their excitation energy spectrum. The shortcomings of this model became apparent when facilities dedicated to the production and study of radioactive isotopes, such as FRIB, began operations. Now, writing in Nature Physics, Alexandra Gade, professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and FRIB scientific director, and collaborators have measured the features of the neutron-rich nucleus chromium-62, which belongs to one of those islands of inversion, as predicted by shell model calculations.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02718-3
  • 10 December 2024
  • Nature Physics

A recent paper in Nature Physics – written by Alexandra Gade, professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and FRIB scientific director, and Michael Thoenneson, University Distinguished Professor of physics at MSU – highlights isotope discovery, including a feature on FRIB.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-024-02719-2
  • 10 December 2024
  • Newswise

Supported by a new Strategic Partnership Grant from the Michigan State University Research Foundation, an interdisciplinary team will establish a framework on MSU’s campus that streamlines the development of a promethium-149-based radiopharmaceutical as an effective prostate cancer therapeutic. This integrated system will use cutting-edge facilities including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB; the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, better known as IQ; as well as newly expanded radiochemistry laboratories in MSU’s Department of Chemistry.  

https://www.newswise.com/articles/fighting-prostate-cancer-from-farm-to-table-a…
  • 10 December 2024
  • MSU Today

Supported by a new Strategic Partnership Grant from the Michigan State University Research Foundation, an interdisciplinary team will establish a framework on MSU’s campus that streamlines the development of a promethium-149-based radiopharmaceutical as an effective prostate cancer therapeutic. This integrated system will use cutting-edge facilities including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB; the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, better known as IQ; as well as newly expanded radiochemistry laboratories in MSU’s Department of Chemistry.  

https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2024/fighting-prostate-cancer-from-farm-to-table-…
  • 2 December 2024
  • MSU Today

“Of Equal Place: Isotopes in Motion,” a collaboration between Michigan State University’s Wharton Center and FRIB and national dance company Dance Exchange, returned to the stage for the first time since its 2022 premiere on 14 November at Wharton’s Cobb Great Hall.

https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2024/dancing-with-isotopes-how-science-and-art-co…
  • 2 December 2024
  • Wabash College

Wabash College profiles James Szalkie, who interned with Michigan State University’s BEam COoler and LAser spectroscopy (BECOLA) group at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) this past summer, where he performed precision measurement experiments via collinear laser spectroscopy. His main project was to develop a python program to detect contaminants in the beamline using machine learning.
 

https://www.wabash.edu/news/story/13404