March 2 (UPI) — Forty years after scientists first theoretically predicted the existence of a three-dimensional skyrmion, scientists have observed the particle in the lab.

The particle, observed cold quantum gas, isn’t a normal particle composed of electrons, protons and electrons. It is a quantum particle, the energy signature created by the interactions between a particle and the surrounding system.

In this instance, the quantum particle is a tangled knot of magnetic moments in the quantum gas.