Feature

Elemental escape

Making superheavies may reveal island of stability

By Alexandra Witze

- More than 2 years ago

As nuclear physics vacation spots go, the “island of stability” sounds pretty good. But this island isn’t in the Caribbean, the Maldives or even Hawaii. It’s at the edge of the periodic table of the elements.

ELEMENTAL ESCAPE | Relative stability of elements Karen Carlo, adapted from figure by Yuri Oganessian

Reaching the island would be the culmination of decades of synthesizing artificial elements, those heavier than uranium (SN: 4/15/78, p.