WEBVTT - Does Element 115 Really Have a Connection With UFOs? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:11.000 Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. Element one fifteen is 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.720 an enigma of sorts. It was only added to the 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:18.400 periodic table in yet for decades it has attracted attention 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:22.520 because of a supposed connection to extraterrestrial technology and alien 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:27.400 life forms. Intrigued, Before we answer whether there is a connection, 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:32.640 let's find out what element one fifteen really is. First off, 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.600 as with all elements on the periodic table, the elements 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.760 number corresponds to the number of protons and the nucleus 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.520 of the elements atom always spoke by email with Jacqueline Gates, 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:44.960 a scientist with the Heavy Elements Group in the Nuclear 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:49.839 Science Division for Berkeley Lab in California. She explained Element 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.520 one fifteen, or moscovium, is a man made super heavy 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.720 element that has a hundred and fifteen protons in its nucleus. 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.880 That is twenty three more protons and the heaviest element 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:04.679 you can find in large quantities on Earth Uranium. Element 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.039 one fifteen is an extremely rare element that's made one 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.880 atom at a time in particle accelerators. It exists for 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.480 just a fraction of a second before it decays into 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:18.560 another element. Gates said it's special because it's near a 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.880 predicted island of stability where some super heavy nuclei might 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.320 have much longer lifetimes. Instead of living for less than 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.600 a second, they could exist for minutes, days, or even years. 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.000 That is long enough that we might be able to 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:37.160 use them for practical applications. Element one fifteen was discovered 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.680 in two thousand three in Russia at the Flora of 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.920 Laboratory for nuclear reactions. In the past fifty years, the 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.520 lab has discovered nine new elements, including the sixth most recent. 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:52.680 One fifteen was eventually named moscovium because laboratory is in Moscow. 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.280 To make this element, the scientists accelerated ions of calcium 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.640 forty eight to around ten per of the speed of 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:05.200 light and then bombarded American two forty three with them. 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.560 Through this bombardment, they were able to successfully fuse the 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:14.359 nuclei of these atoms, producing four atoms of moscovium. Gates explained, 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.280 to create a super heavy element, you need the complete 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.040 fusion of two lighter elements. Of The new element that 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:22.720 they made had a hundred and fifteen protons twenty from 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.240 the calcium forty eight and ninety five from the americum 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.000 to forty three. This new element was then separated from 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.000 all the other reaction products using a gas filled recoil 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.680 separator and then implanted into a detector where scientists were 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:39.680 able to watch element one fifteen decay into element one thirteen. 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.440 It took years for researchers to work out some of 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:47.240 the details about moscovia. It wasn't until twenty eighteen the 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.120 Berkeley Lab scientists figured out that the element's mass or 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.000 atomic weight, that is, the total number of protons and 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.840 neutrons in the atom, was two eighty eight. To nab 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.799 this vital number, they repeated the process that the first 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.560 discoverers used to pin down the element. In doing so, 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:08.639 they managed to produce roughly one atom of muscovium per day, 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.520 and that atom was captured by an instrument called FIONA, 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.040 an acronym meaning for the identification of nu glide a, 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.959 which to the untrained eye looks like a small metal 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:24.400 bank vault. So far, muscovium doesn't have a practical use 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:29.480 outside of scientific study, But what about that potential alien connection. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.360 Element one fifteen was only discovered in two thousand three, 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:36.800 but it may sound familiar because the name has been 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.400 around for decades in connection with UFOs, aliens and other 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.760 related phenomena. We're referring to the long lived story of 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:49.480 Bob Scott Lazar, who went public with what he said 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:54.120 was top secret information about Element one fifteen. Lazar claimed 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.080 to be a former employee at Area fifty one, the 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.560 infamous and highly classified area of the Nevada Test and 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.240 Training Range operated by the United States Air Force, where 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:07.680 he said his job was to reverse engineer crashed alien 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.320 flying saucers. He said that he had personally worked with 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.160 Element one fifteen, which was used to pilot alien spacecraft. 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.200 Lazar said it was quote impossible to synthesize an element 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.040 that heavy here on Earth. The substance has to come 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.360 from a place where super heavy elements could have been 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:30.200 produced naturally. Lazar claimed that he had seen evidence of 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.640 anti gravity propulsion technologies and nine alien spacecraft stored in 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:39.280 the hangar at Area fifty one. Those spaceships ostensibly used 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.400 some sort of propulsion system that harnessed the inherent power 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.880 of gravity and thus utilized the characteristics of Element one 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:50.200 fifteen to work their technological wizardry. The government does not 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.119 confirm the employment of anyone who has worked at Area 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.480 fifty one, and, as some sources have pointed out, the 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.640 gist of his claims have never been thoroughly disproved. Yet 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:06.479 there's still the fundamental science contradicting his claims. Gates said, no, 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.400 there is no connection between this discovery and the claims 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:13.119 of Bob Lazar. Presently, all the created atoms of element 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.039 one fifteen have decayed way too fast to be used 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.720 to fuel UFOs oh. We also spoke via email with 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.680 Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell, who directed a documentary about Bob 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.239 Lazar and who reached out to us after the article 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:30.520 that this episode is based on was published. He said 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.040 Lazar made a point to explain that there's no reason 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.120 a version of element one fifteen couldn't be synthesized and 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.120 observed at some point in the future. In fact, he 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.960 predicted that it would be just likely not in a 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.560 stabilized form because of the statistical and probability of landing 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.559 on a relevant isotope. The isotope discovered in two thousand 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.960 three is not the isotope that would account for what 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.080 Lazar has described having had access to while working at 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.599 Area fifty one, and just like how gold has thirty 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.440 seven to an isotopes and only one isotope is stable, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.640 one fifteen is suspected to have mostly rapid decay isotopes, 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.280 So hopefully in the future we will land on a 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.880 version with a longer half life, even if it just 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:15.479 ends up being a few atoms of it, weather LaVar 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.120 is one fifteen winds up being an isotope of the 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.440 one fifteen discovered in two thousand three. For now, we're 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:26.640 left with some tangible but equally thrilling science. Muscovium is 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.919 an amazing element. According to Gates, it's a sign that 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.640 we're pushing the boundaries of what we know about the universe. 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.320 She said element one fifteen is special and that we 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.240 can make it easier than some lighter elements like element 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.560 one twelve or element one thirteen, and typically as we 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.440 add more protons it becomes harder to make a new element. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.720 This trend is broken around element one fifteen. Due to this, 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:51.919 we've been able to make over a hundred atoms of 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:55.040 element one fifteen and begin to understand its nuclear and 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.719 chemical properties. But we also spoke via email with Virginia Tremble, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.320 a physics and astronomy professor at the University of California, Irvine. 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.920 She said, as discovery space advances into heavier and heavier 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.960 new glides, their properties provide stronger and stronger tests of 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:15.520 our basic physical understanding. They don't always decay in the 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.440 expected patterns, and where more than a few atoms can 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.960 be produced at once, they don't always have the chemical 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.640 properties that you would expect from their position in the 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:31.560 periodic table. Today's episode was written by Nathan Chandler and 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.000 produced by Tyler Clang. For more in this and lots 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.680 of other heavy topics, visit how stuff works dot com. 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:38.960 Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio. For more 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.320 podcasts in my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.120 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.