In normal physics of three (or higher dimensions or even on the line) there are two types of particles: bosons and fermions which are distinguished by giving a +1 or a -1 phase when two identical particles are exchanged.  However, in two dimensions different physics can happen:  when two identical particles are exchanged the effect can be any phase or even a matrix valued action on the state.

 The New York Times has a nice review of new research done on undergraduates which shows students learn mathematics better using symbolic over example based approaches.

The results are published in Science here

 

The paper "Anyonic interferometry and protected memories in atomic spin lattices" has been published in Nature Physics.

5th Symposium on Topological Quantum Computation in Leeds, UK April 12-13, 2008 http://quantum.leeds.ac.uk/~phyjkp/Symposium/index.html