It’s elementary! Highlights from the all-new periodic table

Scientists have confirmed the discovery of four new elements. Here's a primer on other exciting members of science's most exclusive club. And boron

At last, the periodic table looks tidy. To nobody's surprise, the discovery - and indeed creation - of a few atoms of elements number 113, 115, 117 and 118 has now been verified by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), and the seventh period is complete, giving the main table a nice, smooth bottom row. As soon as the new elements are officially named, the world's chemistry textbooks can be reprinted with what may well be the final version. (There might be an eighth period out there too, but let's not think about that for now.)

Since we first began to understand that each element consists of a specific number of protons surrounded by the same number of electrons (and flavoured with various numbers of neutrons), it has been easy to speculate about finding more. The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev first arranged them in the now familiar way in 1869, having seen the table in a dream. Henceforth, if anyone asks you what the universe is, you can give (as a short answer): "This." So here are some of the most intriguing elements on the all-singing, all-dancing new periodic table.