Element 118 Synthesized and Dubbed Ununoctium

It appears that periodic table element 118 has finally found existence. Physics Review C is reporting that chemists from Russia’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have indirectly detected element 118, temporarily dubbed Ununoctium, via collisions of Californium and Calcium atoms. It is notable that the atoms themselves have not been observed, however, only their "decay daughters."

Specifically, following the ²⁴⁹Cf + ⁴⁸Ca reaction, element 118, with a half-life of .89 ms, decays into element 116 by alpha decay. This decay continues, resulting in Seaborgium^], having a half-life of 1.9 min, and later Rutherfordium^], with a half-life of 1.3 hours.

Interestingly, the discovery of element 118 was previously reported in 1999 by the University of Berkeley – a discovery that was retracted two years later.