Researchers at CERN have observed a rare nuclear process for the first time, providing insights into how heavy elements like gold are formed in space.

Published in *Physical Review Letters* and reported by BioScience, new observations from CERN's ISOLDE Decay Station shed light on the rapid neutron capture (r-process), a key mechanism for synthesizing heavy elements during cosmic events like neutron star collisions. The team captured the first detailed energy profile of neutrons emitted during the decay of indium-134.