Scientists have finally created an elusive particle known as the Shankar skyrmion, more than 40 years after it was first theorized. And, in the process, they may have modeled the rare phenomenon of ‘ball lightning’ on a quantum scale. Not only could the discovery help to explain the mysterious natural occurrence, which can appear as a sphere of electricity in the midst of storms, but the experts say it could pave the way for more stable plasma in fusion reactors. The three-dimensional particle consists of knots made from the spin fields of a Bose-Einstein condensate – or, atoms cooled to...