THE effort to populate that enduring symbol of chemistry – the periodic table – with ever-heavier elements is replete with wild claims, intense competition and clever detective work, combined with frustrating bureaucracy (see “Element 112 joins the periodic table”). It’s a quest that has all the drama of a soap opera. Yet its implications go far beyond the textbooks, and could elucidate the way the fundamental forces glue atoms together. Exotic new chemistries may also emerge. All in all, it’s the ultimate riposte to those who claim that chemistry is boring.
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