Element 120 may now be in reach and the hunt for it could begin next year
By 
Kit Chapman2024-07-25T13:30:00
Particle accelerator tests have shown that titanium-50 can be used to make elements 114 and 116
Element hunters at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have successfully used titanium-50 to make a superheavy element, paving the way for a hunt for element 120 as early as next year.
New elements are no longer discovered. They are created by fusion reactions in particle accelerators, accelerating an ion beam of a lighter element into a heavier target, hoping the nuclei fuse together to produce a heavier element. These short-lived, highly radioactive isotopes are too unstable to exist naturally on Earth, and often decay within seconds, meaning specialist detection equipment is required.