Jennifer Ly

Scientists in Japan, Russia, and America have discovered four new elements that complete the seventh row of the periodic table, according to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

“The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is pleased and honored to make this announcement concerning elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 and the completion of the seventh row of the periodic table of the elements,” said IUPAC President Dr. Mark C. Cesa, in a IUPAC statement on December 30.

From a collaboration between the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California; the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge in Tennessee; and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, elements 115, 117 and 118 were found with enough evidence to fulfill the criterias.

More than twelve years since they started, a team in Japan have also discovered element 113, according to the IUPAC.

The elements are unnamed, although the IUPAC has invited the discoverers to suggest permanent names and symbols.