High-precision mass measurements on neutron-rich zinc isotopes 71m,72-81Zn have been performed with the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. For the first time the mass of 81Zn has been experimentally determined. This makes 80Zn the first of the few major waiting points along the path of the astrophysical rapid neutron capture process where neutron separation energy and neutron capture Q-value are determined experimentally. As a consequence, the astrophysical conditions required for this waiting point and its associated abundance signatures to occur in r-process models can now be mapped precisely. The measurements also confirm the robustness of the N = 50 shell closure for Z = 30 farther from stability.

Precision measurements in nuclear beta decay offer a sensitive window to search for new physics beyond the standard electroweak model and allow also the determination of the fundamental weak vector coupling in processes involving the lightest quarks. Searches for new physics are also a strong motivation for experiments carried out at the high energy frontier reached at the most powerful particle colliders. It is instructive to confront results from the low energy and the high energy frontiers in order to look for possible complementarities and orient new avenues for experiments at low energies. We review here the status of constraints on new physics obtained from nuclear and neutron decays and compare them to those from other semi-leptonic processes and from the LHC. We stress the requirements of new precision experiments in beta decay in order to impact the search for new physics at the light of current and projected LHC results. We describe recent experimental results and ongoing developments in nuclear and neutron beta decay, with emphasis on their planned goals to improve present limits on exotic weak couplings.