SCIENCE - Physicists let magnetic dipoles interact on the nanoscale for the first time

Physicists have found out how tiny islands of magnetic material align themselves when sorted on a regular lattice -- by measurements at BESSY II. Contrary to expectations, the north and south poles of the magnetic islands did not arrange themselves in a zigzag pattern, but in chains.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130515151548.ht