Physicists find a new way to push electrons around

> Currents in these materials, being neutral, might not waste much of their energy as heat, as occurs in conventional semiconductors — potentially making the new materials a more efficient basis for computer chips.

This part is probably only hype, but the sideway movement looks very interesting, at least from a theoretical point of view.

There is something about there being 4 electrons in the outermost shell of an element.

What is it?