They've shown that a synthetically grown sample of herbertsmithite crystal (what you see above) behaves as a quantum spin liquid: a material where fractional quantum states produce a liquid-like flux in magnetic orientations, even if the material is solid.

ENGADGET: MIT demos new form of magnetism that could lead to quantum communication, storage

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.

ECONOMIST: Spintronics