Jenna Ahart

Contributing Writer

An illustration of people assembling a giant atomic nucleus out of blue and yellow balls by following the steps of an Ikea-style instruction manual.

nuclear physics

Physicists Start To Pin Down How Stars Forge Heavy Atoms

July 2, 2025

The precursors of heavy elements might arise in the plasma underbellies of swollen stars or in smoldering stellar corpses. They definitely exist in East Lansing, Michigan.

About the author

Jenna Ahart is a science journalist specializing in the physical sciences. Her work has appeared in outlets such as Science, MIT Technology Review, and Live Science. She studied journalism and astrophysics at George Washington University and completed her master's in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz, during which she was the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing's 2024 physical sciences fellow.

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Jenna Ahart

Physicists Start To Pin Down How Stars Forge Heavy Atoms

Physicists Start To Pin Down How Stars Forge Heavy Atoms

Jenna Ahart

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Physicists Start To Pin Down How Stars Forge Heavy Atoms