Monopole current offers way to control magnets

In work published in Physical Review Letters, scientists from RIKEN in Japan have discovered interesting new magnetic properties of a type of materials known as "quantum spin ice." These materials demonstrate interesting properties as they behave as "frustrated magnets"--systems that can settle into various magnetic states because of their special geometry. One important property of these materials is that they have virtual monopoles--particles that are either north or south but not like typical...