Scientists have demonstrated that nickel 78, a neutron-rich 'doubly magic' isotope of nickel with 28 protons and 50 neutrons, still maintains a spherical shape that allows it to be relatively stable despite the large imbalance in the number of protons and neutrons. They also discovered a surprise, with the observations from the experiment suggesting that nickel 78 may be the lightest nucleus with 50 neutrons to have a magic nature.
