News & Comment

Nadezda V. Tarakina and Bart Verberck explore the colourful history and assets of element 48.

Discovered during secret testing by the United States, Joanne Redfern tells us about element 99 and why its namesake cautioned against the very technology that led to its creation.

Naturally scarce but synthetically accessible, Gauthier J.-P. Deblonde and Rebecca J. Abergel discuss element 89 and its emergence as a candidate radio-theranostic metal for cancer treatment.

Lars Öhrström tells of the fleeting, but still tangible, chemistry of dubnium, the heaviest of the group 5 elements.

Alpha decay into flerovium? It must be Lv, says Kat Day, as she tells us how little we know about element 116.

Stanislav Strekopytov relates the history of rare-earth element samarium, from its geological origins to its geochronological uses.

Matic Lozinšek and Gary J. Schrobilgen consider krypton — namesake of Superman's home planet — its superoxidant compounds, and their roles in coaxing elements into their highest oxidation states.

Bohrium behaves just as a group 7 element should — but this is in fact surprising, Philip Wilk explains.

From secretive beginnings to serving in missions on Mars, Rebecca J. Abergel and Eric Ansoborlo take a look at the glowing mark curium has left on contemporary science and technology.

David Payne relates iridium's role in two very different ages.

Yuichiro Nagame ponders on the steps it took to make lawrencium, and its location in the periodic table.

Peter Dinér describes the journey of yttrium from its discovery in a remote mine to high-temperature superconductors and light-emitting diodes.