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Chemists have witnessed atoms of one chemical element morph into another for the first time ever—a feat that produced an unexpected outcome that could lead to a new way to safely treat cancer with radiation. Scientists worked with iodine-125—a radioactive isotope that is routinely used in cancer therapies.
Using a scanning tunneling microscope, which can produce images of each atom in a material’s surface, they observed individual atoms of iodine-125 decay. As each atom decayed it lost a proton and became tellurium-125, a non-radioactive isotope of the element tellurium.Image credit: Courtesy of Sykes and Michaelides Labs
