If you break a bar magnet in two, each of the two pieces will subsequently possess a north and south pole. So far, independent mobile magnetic monopoles have only been found in a single class of magnetic crystals. An international team of researchers, including scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich, has now discovered monopoles in a “Kagome spin ice” material, which is electrically conductive and could therefore offer great potential in scientific and practical applications.