How the Universe’s carbon came to be

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-conundrum-experiment-aims-to-re-create-synthesis-of-key-element/?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=84063ea0b4-briefing-dy-20200320&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-84063ea0b4-44992633

How the Universe’s carbon came to be

A new particle-accelerator experiment is testing whether some of the Universe’s carbon-12 — the building block of life — was forged during supernova blasts or the collisions of neutron stars. Most carbon is thought to have formed mainly inside the quietly burning cores of stars. But the process — in which three helium-4 nuclei come together to form one stable carbon atom — can theoretically happen more efficiently when enhanced by neutrons in more cataclysmic stellar processes.

Scientific American | 5 min read