When the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry named element 118 in honour of nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian, it was continuing a long but fractious tradition. Only 17 people have been ...

First established in 1869, the periodic table quickly took the scientific world by storm as a means of properly organizing elements. Beyond being a helpful learning tool, the periodic table allowed ...

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Physicists have filled in some longtime blank spaces on the periodic table, calculating electron affinities of the lanthanides, a series of 15 elements known as rare earths. Physicists at Michigan ...

The periodic table has become an icon of science. Its rows and columns provide a tidy way of showcasing the elements — the ingredients that make up the universe. It seems obvious today, but it wasn’t ...

New frontiers: the new cooling technique could lead to ultracold experiments across the periodic table. (Courtesy: iStock/Eyematrix) Researchers in Singapore have used a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to ...

How is the table organized? The Periodic Table, first compiled by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev, is organized by the number of protons in the nucleus of each element's atom, known as the atomic ...

Say hello to your new desktop background. In May 1949, LIFE Magazine published a stunning series of images to accompany an issue dedicated largely to The Atom. You can check out the feature in its ...

Scientists in Japan think they've finally created the elusive element 113, one of the missing items on the periodic table of elements. Element 113 is an atom with 113 protons in its nucleus — a type ...

GALLIUM IS an unusual element. It is a light, silvery metal, similar to aluminium. But unlike aluminium, if you hit it with a hammer it shatters like glass. It melts at about 30°C—in your hand, or ...

The periodic table captures a subtle pattern that runs through the chemical elements, the fundamental building blocks of everything around us: from the aluminium in bike frames to the xenon gas in ...