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Physicists Uncover Novel Phase of Matter (phys.org)
schwit1 writes: A team of physicists led by Caltech's David Hsieh has discovered an unusual form of matter — not a conventional metal, insulator, or magnet, for example, but something entirely different (abstract). This phase, characterized by an unusual ordering of electrons, offers possibilities for new electronic device functionalities and could hold the solution to a long-standing mystery in condensed matter physics having to do with high-temperature superconductivity — the ability for some materials to conduct electricity without resistance, even at "high" temperatures approaching -100 degrees Celsius. "The discovery of this phase was completely unexpected and not based on any prior theoretical prediction... The whole field of electronic materials is driven by the discovery of new phases, which provide the playgrounds in which to search for new macroscopic physical properties."
You and the mods are several decades out of date. Phases of matter are no longer about one of the four classic categories you listed, but about thermodynamic transitions. Materials that transition from insulator to conductor in certain ways are undergoing a phase transition, as are changes in magnetic properties. This makes things like insulator and ferromagnetism a phase of matter in some cases, which undergoes a phase transition in response to temperature, magnetic field, or other external controls.
For some reason, most education on thermal and statistical mechanics stops about the 1870s, and doesn't cover more interesting physics, like the statistical definition of temperature instead of the kinetix (they overlap, the former is a superset of the latter).