Just prior to the end of 2015, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC to everyone, including itself) made a momentous discovery: it was accepting the existence of four new chemical elements. Combined, they complete the bottom row of the periodic table.
These days, discovering a new element involves making it yourself. Moderately weighty atoms are accelerated into each other and, in rare cases, fuse to form a single atomic nucleus—which falls back apart again almost instantly. Between the rarity of the formation and the vanishingly small half-life, actually spotting a success is a significant challenge.
Still, evidence that these four elements have been created was building for a number of years. The IUPAC, however, waited to convene a panel of experts to evaluate that evidence. Clearly, the panel found it compelling.
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