Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have successfully created livermorium (element 116) using a titanium particle beam for the first time.

This breakthrough brings researchers closer to reaching the “island of stability,” a theoretical point where superheavy elements might be more stable and easier to study.

Reiner Kruecken, director of nuclear science at the lab, noted that while producing element 120 will be more challenging, the success with livermorium makes it seem feasible, Gizmodo has reported.

The discovery was presented at the Nuclear Structure 2024 conference and will be published soon on arXiv and in Physical Review Letters.

Written by B.C. Begley