The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has confirmed the existence of four new elements with the atomic numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118, which were discovered by laboratories in Japan, the United States, and Russia. This bumper group of new elements completes the 7th row of the Periodic Table and clears the way for the discoverers to start thinking up names for them.

Until now, elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 have only been known from their gaps in the table and the temporary names ununtrium (Uut), ununpentium (Uup), ununseptium (Uus), and ununoctium (Uuo). Now, thanks to RIKEN in Japan; the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), California; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, (ORNL), Tennessee, these elements that do not exist in nature have been confirmed to have been created for the first time.