First Clues to ‘Impossible’ Magnetic Monopoles Exposed by Diamonds And Rust : ScienceAlert

The search for the magnetic monopole – a particle with one magnetic pole, not two – is one of the most exciting and potentially transformational quests in physics, and scientists just made a major new discovery in their monopole hunt.

An international team of researchers, led by academics from the University of Cambridge in the UK, have observed monopole-like behavior in the patterns of magnetic fields as they pass through hematite, a material similar to rust.

“If monopoles did exist, and we were able to isolate them, it would be like finding a missing puzzle piece that was assumed to…