The nanometric-size islands of magnetic metal sporadically spread between vacuum gaps display unique conductive properties under a magnetic field. In a recent study published in EPJ Plus, Anatoliy Chornous from Sumy State University in Ukraine and colleagues found that the vacuum gaps impede the direct magnetic alignment between the adjacent islands—which depends on the external magnetic field—while allowing electron tunneling between them. Such externally controlled conducting behaviour opens the door for applications in electronics with magnetic field sensors—which are used to read data on hard disk drives—biosensors and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), as well as in spintronics with magnetic devices used to increase memory density.