Notably, anticipation capacity is largely explained by changes in the number of elements (SI Fig. ), which in turn indicates that high anticipations are possible for periods of low rates of element discovery. A more illustrative picture of the evolution of the periodic system is provided by evolutionary preservation patterns, which encode information about families of elements that have existed across the evolution of the chemical space and about their historical unfolding. That is, whether they have made their way up until the present, or whether they instead do not stand the test of time by breaking at some point. Analysis of preservation patterns allows to split the evolution of the periodic system into six periods, shown to the right of Fig. .