>Or is that too un-sensational an explanation for modern physics?
which has the frankly pretentious air of "I see an easy explanation you don't, why didn't you see it?"
This is a common phenomenon where someone reads a pop sci article and decides they know better than experts in the field. So I asked a couple basic questions to see whether you have any real idea what you're commenting on, or whether you're stringing together concepts you have no real understanding of and then being snide.
What is an insulator, and what is a conductor? What are the quantum mechanical properties of a material the determine whether it is one or the other, or potentially some sort of mixture? How would or could a magnetic field influence conductance of a material?
How does a material transition from a conductor to an insulator, and how does on recognize that transition?
For that matter, what are the known laws of magnetic interaction that one would have in mind when trying to model such an interaction?
Or have your comments had no real content?