Neutrons live longer depending on how scientists count them
The fundamental building blocks of matter are having a mid-life crisis, as two different ways of measuring a neutron's lifespan yield two different answers.
Neutrons are perfectly stable inside an atom, but once they are stripped away and left alone, they decay into other particles. To find out how long they last, scientists use two methods: the 'bottle' and the 'beam.' In the bottle method, researchers trap ultracold neutrons in a container and count how many are left after a few minutes. In the beam method, they count the particles created as neutrons fly past a detector.
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