Teaching nuclear physics using data rather than models, recovering helium from party balloons

What is the best way to teach nuclear physics? Is the discipline more difficult than particle physics? What does a nuclear physicist make of the film Oppenheimer? These are just three of the questions addressed by David Jenkins in this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast. A nuclear physicist and author based at the UK’s University of York, Jenkins is in conversation with Physics World’s Matin Durrani.

Also featured in this episode is Dale Keeping, who is helium recovery manager at the UK’s ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. He explains how helium is used at the facility; where the helium supply comes from; and how he and his colleagues manage this non-renewable resource. Keeping also chats about an outreach initiative that involves collecting used party balloons so the helium can be re-used at ISIS.