Researchers have uncovered friction without contact—driven entirely by magnetic interactions. As two magnetic layers slide, their internal forces compete, causing constant rearrangements that dramatically increase resistance at certain distances. This creates a surprising peak in friction instead of a steady rise, breaking a long-standing physics law.
Given they are using an array of freely floating magnets it doesn’t seem like a big “breaking”. It’s possible to create normal mechanical systems that also “breaks” Amontons’ first law. For example, imagine a surface with an array of spring loaded pegs poking out of holes on a teflon surface. At light loads the object will have to slide against the pegs. But push a little harder and the pegs will push down into the holes of the surface and the object is now sliding on teflon.