Radioactivity is considered a taboo subject by many people, who fear it and attribute exaggerated risks to it. But it is a natural phenomenon that can be found everywhere: at home, in food, in one's body, even in the air we breathe. Knowing it helps to discuss in a more objective way the problems associated with it.

The Borexino experiment, which has its driving force at the University of Milan, has revealed why and how the Sun and the stars shine. Published on Nature the announcement of the first experimental detection of the nuclear fusion chain called CNO (carbon-nitrogen-oxygen) cycle.

The LUNA experiment sheds light on the density of matter that makes up everything we know of in the universe. The fusion of a deuterium nucleus and a proton, one of the key reactions of primordial nucleosynthesis, has been measured with high precision by the LUNA experiment at Gran Sasso Laboratory. Thus, it has been possible to derive an accurate determination of the density of ordinary matter.