Radioactive material gets a bad rap, what with radiation and fallout and nuclear waste and all. But it offers some practical uses. One of the coolest (OK, maybe the coolest) is using radioactive ...

In this video excerpt from NOVA's "Hunting the Elements," New York Times technology columnist David Pogue explores how isotopes of carbon can be used to determine the age of once-living matter. Learn ...

Segment 7A: Radioactive Decay We explore the nature of radioactivity. Segment 7A: Radioactive Decay We explore the nature of radioactivity and describes the types of radioactive decay that occur.

Radioactive decay is the strange and almost mystical ability for one element to naturally and spontaneously transmute into another. In the process, those elements tend to emit deadly forms of ...

One of the first things that Physics students learn when they study radioactivity is the idea of the half-life. A half-life is the period of time in which it takes one-half of a given amount of a ...

Radioactive decay rates, thought to be unique physical constants and counted on in such fields as medicine and anthropology, may be more variable than once thought. A team of scientists from Purdue ...

About 50% of the heat given off by the Earth is generated by the radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and thorium, and their decay products. That is the conclusion of an international team of ...

Solar activity: does the Sun affect radioactive decay? Image of a solar flare taken in 2014 by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. (Courtesy: NASA/SDO) A new study of the radioactive decay ...

Radioactive decay is a fundamental process in nature by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. Studying nuclear decay modes is crucial for understanding properties of atomic ...