At the far end of the periodic table is a realm where nothing is quite as it should be. The elements here, starting at atomic number 104 (rutherfordium), have never been found in nature. In fact, they ...

One of the greatest challenges facing the future of clean nuclear energy is scientists’ ability to recover heavy metals from nuclear waste, such as lanthanides and actinides. A new computational tool ...

The lanthanide (4f) and actinide (5f) elements (collectively the “f-block”) comprise around a quarter of the periodic table, and many are essential to key aspects of modern life and society. These ...

In this video excerpt from NOVA's "Hunting the Elements," New York Times technology columnist David Pogue explores how the periodic table of elements took shape. Learn how the periodic table developed ...

On a stage in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization headquarters in Paris, Yuri Oganessian holds a microphone in one hand and a small remote control in the other. Over ...

The story of the fifteenth element began in Hamburg, in 1669. The unsuccessful glassblower and alchemist Hennig Brandt was trying to find the philosopher’s stone, a mythical substance that could turn ...