The story begins, in a sense, in classrooms around the world, where students are taught that the rate of decay of a specific radioactive material is a constant.

这个事情要从世界各地的教室里说起，在那里学生学习到特定核素的衰变速率是恒定的。

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But if physicists at Stanford and Purdue are correct in their findings, the whole theory of constant radioactive decay rates could be thrown out the door.

FORBES: Radioactive Decay Rates May Not Be Constant After All

Physicists have long held the view that the rate of breakdown - or decay - for any given radioactive substance is constant.

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The team of physicists was investigating the possibility of using radioactive decay rates to generate random numbers, since the rate is constant but the emission of individual atoms is unpredictable, it seemed like a perfect fit.

FORBES: Radioactive Decay Rates May Not Be Constant After All