A group of fundamental particles, long theorised but thought to be physically impossible, might exist after all. Known as paraparticles, they could one day have exotic applications if we ever manage to detect them.

Paraparticles aren’t a new idea, but physicists have previously dismissed them as having no relevance to physical reality. The concept has its origin in a division between the known fundamental particles that are always classified as belonging to one of two groups, either a fermion or a boson.