A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus

The leading theory of what’s going on inside atoms can’t properly describe the strong nuclear force. This fundamental interaction binds together protons and neutrons inside an atom’s core. The results of an experiment that measured inflated atomic nuclei, contradicted the theory. It’s still unclear whether the discrepancy could be resolved by including commonly ignored factors in the theoretical calculations or whether there’s a fatal flaw in our understanding of the strong force.