1. South Africa took nine years to dismantle most of its nuclear program, which had even produced atom bombs before its end was ordered in 1990.

2. An isotope is an atom of an element with a different number of neutrons.

3. As the atom relaxed back into a ground state, it released phonons.

4. The artificial atom absorbed the sound wave and its energy level increased, reaching what scientists call an excited state.

5. For the first time, physicists have figured out how to communicate with an artificial atom using sound instead of light.

6. Artificial atoms are usually coupled to light but for this experiment the researchers linked the artificial atom to sound.