"To create a current of spins in insulators, scientists have typically kept electrons stationary in a lattice made of an insulating ferromagnetic material, such as yttrium iron garnet (YIG). When they apply a heat gradient across the material, the spins begin to "move"—that is, information about the orientation of a spin is communicated from one point to another along the lattice, much in the way a wave moves through water without actually transporting the water molecules anywhere. Spin excitations known as magnons are thought to carry the current.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-young-scientist-magnetic-material-unnecessary.html#jCp
