At http://phys.org/print295092645.html … a report on a paper researching ball lightning, 'Further Insight into the Nature of Ball Lightning' in the Journal of Physics and Chemistry says that ball lightning is a natural plasma like phenomenon associated with thunderstorms. A recently discovered laboratory phenomenon had striking similarities – observed when a high power spark was discharged form a cathode protruding from an electrolyte solution.
At http://phys.org/print295081978.html … has the title, 'Unruly Plasma: researchers challenge Bohr van Leeuwen's theorem' – according to this the state of a many particle system cannot be altered by turning on a magnetic field. In particular, a liquid will remain a liquid and a crystal will remain a crystal. In a paper in Physical Review Letters this fundamental is challenged – but the challenge involved computer simulation.