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Justin Case [soylentnews.org] writes:

Ball lightning [wikipedia.org] is a frequently reported but currently unexplained phenomenon, in which a glowing ball floats in midair, passes through walls, and otherwise defies physical common sense. Now, scientists have created a synthetic electromagnetic knot [phys.org] called a skyrmion, in a quantum gas. Its behaviors and properties are similar to those reported for ball lightning, and may finally make it possible to study something that has previously been outside the realm of science, for lack of repeatable observations.

Starting with a Bose-Einstein condensate [sciencenews.org], and adding a magnetic field, they produced

objects [that] can move like independent particles, shifting from place to place within a material while maintaining their knotted configuration. And like a tight knot in a thread, skyrmions are difficult to undo, making them relatively stable structures.

Original Submission