The building blocks of atomic nuclei are protons and neutrons, which are themselves made of even more fundamental particles: quarks and gluons. These particles interact via the strong force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. They make up the nuclei at the heart of every atom. They also make up forms of hot or dense nuclear matter that exhibit exotic properties.
Click here for original story, Resolving a mathematical puzzle in quarks and gluons in nuclear matter
Source: Phys.org