They've shown that a synthetically grown sample of herbertsmithite crystal (what you see above) behaves as a quantumspin liquid: a material where fractional quantum states produce a liquid-like flux in magnetic orientations, even if the material is solid.
These discoveries have given birth to a field of endeavour that is known as spintronics, because the magnetic properties of a material depend on a quantum-mechanical property of electrons called spin.
Because an electron is small enough for quantum effects to be routine, it is perfectly possible for such a spin to be pointing up and down at the same time.