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Source:   University Of Missouri-Rolla (http://www.umr.edu) Date:   Posted 7/17/2002 The Sun: A Great Ball Of Iron? For years, scientists have assumed that the sun is an enormous mass of hydrogen. But in a paper presented before the American Astronomical Society, Dr. Oliver Manuel, a professor of nuclear chemistry at UMR, says iron, not hydrogen, is the sun's most abundant element. Manuel claims that hydrogen fusion creates some of the sun's heat, as hydrogen -- the lightest of all elements -- moves to the sun's surface. But most of the heat comes from the core of an exploded supernova...

For a few years now, ion propulsion technology's sci-fi mechanics have raised the standard for flying spacecraft, replacing fiery rocket tails as the new in-thing. Ion propulsion can be about 10 times faster than normal fuel and can continuously run for prolonged periods of time, gaining a wicked amount of speed along the way. One drawback, however, is it's typically employed with xenon thrusters. JAXA's Hayabusa2 mission used the classic xenon as a fuel. Xenon, a heavy noble gas, is exceptionally rare on Earth, pricey and difficult to maintain. That's why French aerospace company ThrustMe is pursuing a plan for...

Deep within a mine in Canada, there is a pool of water bubbling out of the ground. It’s close to 2 miles below the surface of the earth and, according to the scientists who discovered it, it’s been there for 2 billion years, making it the oldest pool of water in the world.Previously that record was held by a pool further up in the mine, about 1.5 miles down, which was discovered in 2013 and given the age of 1.5 billion years.The scientists date the water by analysing the gases trapped inside. As the CBC explains, gases like helium...

With this morning's announcement by North Korea that it has conducted its third nuclear test, experts are closely watching a network of seismic monitoring stations for hints of what sort of test it was. Ratios of radioisotopes could help to verify the explosion and perhaps even provide clues about the type of device detonated — but only if the radioactive gases can be identified before they decay. Seismic stations detected the underground blast at 9:57 a.m. local time. The data, from the US Geological Survey and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), showed a sudden, strong...

Xenon 400,000 times normal found in Chiba air immediately after Fukushima nuke accident CHIBA -- Radioactive xenon-133 some 400,000 times normal levels was detected in the atmosphere here immediately after the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, a radiation survey organization said. It took three months before the volume of radioactive substances returned to normal levels. The Chiba-based Japan Chemical Analysis Center made the announcement during a radiation research session in Tokyo on Dec. 1, organized by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. Keisuke Isogai from the center denied that the high...

Is Kim Jong-il building a new type of weapon? On Monday Seoul announced that the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety had detected unusually high levels of xenon gas near the North Korea border on May 14. The concentration of xenon was eight times higher than normal, and the presence of the gas is indicative of nuclear activities. Because the wind was blowing south at the time, the source of the gas could not have been one of South Korea's nuclear plants. The xenon might have originated in China or Russia, but the most likely place was the land of unexplained...

SEOUL, South Korea -- Abnormal radiation was detected near the inter-Korean border days after North Korea claimed last month to have achieved a nuclear technology breakthrough, South Korea's Science Ministry said Monday. The ministry said it failed to find the cause of the radiation but ruled out a possible underground nuclear test by North Korea. It cited no evidence of a strong earthquake that must follow an atomic explosion. ..." On May 15, however, the atmospheric concentration of xenon -- an inert gas released after a nuclear explosion or radioactive leakage from a nuclear power plant -- on the South...

/begin my excerpts N. Korea Might Have Tested Fusion Process Ju Yong-joong Two days after May 12 announcement, eight times the normal level of radioactive substance Xenon was detected Government kept it under wraps It has been revealed on June 20 that the northern most monitoring station under Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) detected eight times the normal level of radioactive substance Xenon right after N. Korea announced on May 12 that it had successful nuclear fusion process, key technology to make hydrogen bomb. It is raising the possibility that N. Korea actually conducted a small-scale nuclear test (required)...

Radionuclide station RN16 detected North Korea's first test.CTBTO A global network of sensors designed to verify nuclear testing has failed to pick up radioactive gases from North Korea's nuclear blast. The lack of gases, which are created in large amounts during a normal nuclear detonation, has puzzled non-proliferation experts and scientists around the world. But few doubt the nuclear nature of the test, which the US government reported as "a few kilotons" in size on Monday.North Korea conducted what it claims was its second nuclear test on 25 May (see 'North Korea's bigger blast'). Within seconds, a global network of...

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox gaming console would be more of a digital entertainment hub than its predecessor, making it even more of a PC hybrid than ever, Bill Gates told a meeting of business journalists on Monday. The console, code-named Xenon, is due to be previewed in an MTV half-hour special later this month. Mr Gates, Microsoft's chairman and co-founder, was vague on specific features of Xenon but said the company's consoles would be evolving to include improved communications tools for making multiplayer online gaming more convivial. He told the annual meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers...

A rare Russian anaesthetic that allows patients to snap awake without any sort of hangover may protect stroke and cardiac patients from brain damage. The gas, Xenon, was thought to have been used by Russian authorities to end a hostage crisis last October.