During the last decade, six new superheavy elements were added into the seventh period of the periodic table, with the approval of their names and symbols. This milestone was followed by proclaiming 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements by the United Nations General Assembly. According to theory, due to their large atomic numbers, the new arrivals are expected to be qualitatively and quantitatively different from lighter species. The questions pertaining to superheavy atoms and nuclei are in the forefront of research in nuclear and atomic physics, and chemistry. This Colloquium offers a broad perspective on the field and outlines future challenges. References

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According to theory, cluster radioactivity becomes an important decay mode in superheavy nuclei. In this work, we predict that the strongly-asymmetric fission, or cluster emission, is in fact the dominant fission channel for 294 118 Og176, which is currently the heaviest synthetic isotope known. Our theoretical approach incorporates important features of fission dynamics, including quantum tunneling and stochastic dynamics up to scission. We show that, despite appreciable differences in static fission properties such as fission barriers and spontaneous fission lifetimes, the prediction of cluster radioactivity in 294 118 Og176 is robust with respect to the details of calculations, including the choice of energy density functional, collective inertia, and the strength of the dissipation term.

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