October 27, 2006

International Team Creates New Element

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY

A team of Russian and American scientists has stretched the margins of the periodic table by creating a new element, No. 118, which is heavier than any other yet produced, the scientists reported this month.

The element lived for less than one-thousandth of a second before decaying into lighter elements. But in that fleeting instant, it helped researchers map out the landscape of superheavy elements.

"We're studying the effect that controls where the end of the periodic table