Periodic table

Battle for the periodic table

In 2015, four new elements were added to the periodic table with great fanfare — nihonium (atomic number 113), moscovium (115), tennessine (117) and oganesson (118). But some researchers complain the announcement was premature: these superheavy elements are difficult to produce and incredibly short-lived, so verifying their discovery is tricky. Now, chemists and physicists are at odds over who should be the legitimate custodians of the periodic table.

Nature | 8 min read