Standing out from the giants and colossi

Various forms of magnetoresistance - a change in the electrical resistance of a material or structure that is caused by a magnetic field - have captured the attention of many scientists over the past 12 years. The first observations of giant magnetoresistance in 1988 were followed by the discovery of colossal magnetoresistance in 1993. Now Stuart Solin of the NEC Research Institute in Princeton and co-workers have discovered an even larger form of magnetoresistance (S A Solin et al. 2000 Science 289 1530). Moreover, this geometric effect was discovered in non-magnetic materials at room temperature. In this article the author explores magnetoresistance phenomena and ponders on a name for the new effect. (U.K.)