You may have to add another symbol to that periodic table of elements you painstakingly memorized in high-school chemistry.
Scientists have found new evidence of an unconfirmed element with an atomic number of 115 the BBC reported.
"This was a very successful experiment and is one of the most important in the field in recent years", lead researcher Dirk Rudolph, professor at the division of atomic physics at Lund University, said, according to a Lund University press release.
The highly radioactive element appears for only a second before "decaying into lighter atoms," the BBC reported.
The element was first mentioned by Russian scientists in 2004, but has not been confirmed as the newest member of the periodic table. After the element was initially discovered, researchers had to determine the exact proton measurement.
An "international unions of pure and applied physics and chemistry" committee will meet to discuss the element's validity, and whether further testing is needed.
"[The finding] goes beyond the standard measurement," Dr. Rudolph told the BBC.
The team dusted the element americium with calcium ions, this allowed them to measure the photons in relation to alpha decay.
"A new isotope of a potential new element was produced, which transformed into other particles via a radioactive process named alpha decay," the BBC reported.
The researchers said this new finding helped them gain new insight into the "structure and properties of super-heavy atomic nuclei."
The experiment was conducted by the GSI research facility in Germany. The facility has already discovered six new elements in the past.
"Chemical elements are produced in stars and in stellar explosions. Ultimately, these elements are the building blocks of all materials that surround us - including every atom of our bodies. However, the universe is also home to a large number of other atoms that do not occur on the earth," a GSI press release stated.
