The discovery of a metal-rich star packed with both light and heavy elements hints at exotic stellar explosions and the role of ancient dwarf galaxies in seeding the cosmos with uranium and thorium.

For the first time, astronomers have definitively ID’d a specific heavy element forged by a neutron star merger. Theories of physics have long predicted that about half of the universe’s heavy ...

Heavy duty: artist’s impression of a kilonova releasing r-process elements into the cosmos. (Courtesy: ESO/L Calçada/M Kornmesser) The mystery of where heavy elements such as gold and silver come from ...