There is often a pronounced symmetry when you look at the lattice of crystals: the atoms are uniformly arranged. This behavior was also to be expected by a crystal, which physicists from Germany and Poland produced: a compound from an indium arsenide semiconductor, spiked with some iron. The material, however, did not adhere to perfect symmetry. The iron formed two-dimensional, lamellar-shaped structures in the crystal that lent the material a striking property: it became magnetic.