Together with their colleague Professor Stefano Longhi (Polytechnic Institute of Milan), physicists from the group of Professor Alexander Szameit (University of Rostock) have discovered a triple phase transition. At the critical moment, three fundamental properties of an intricate artificial material change abruptly: Topology, conductivity, and energy exchange with the environment. These results challenge the established view that these three major material properties would be largely independent from one another. The discovery was recently published in the journal Nature and could pave the way toward a holistic understanding of the inner workings of complex materials.