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Inside every living cell, chemical transformations are constantly taking place. Some of them create unstable particles whose electrons behave like paired magnets. Their interaction resembles a dance: each movement of the pair responds to external magnetic fields, as if to a changing rhythm.

The invisibility of this dance prevented us from seeing it directly. Now scientists illuminate the cell with a pair of ultrashort laser flashes. The first sparks the dancers into motion; the second, arriving precisely an instant later, makes the reaction products glow. By analyzing the change in brightness of this glow, they reconstruct each 'step,' revealing a picture of the chemistry of magnetic interactions.

The method was tested on cells containing a magnetism-sensitive molecule. The same principle explains the navigation of migratory birds: their visual cells capture the electron dance, translating Earth's magnetic field into tangible images. In the future: portable sensors and therapies controlled by weak magnetic pulses.