In particular, the team from Harvard, Maryland, Boulder and Innsbruck shows that the decoupling of the nuclear spin from the electronic angular momentum can be used to implement many-body systems with an unprecedented degree of symmetry. Specifically, they show that SU(N)-symmetric spin models (with N as large as 10) can be implemented in such a system. Moreover, the interplay of the nuclear spin with the electronic degree of freedom provided by a stable optically excited state allows for the study of spin-orbital physics. Such systems may provide valuable insights into strongly correlated physics of transition metal oxides, heavy fermion materials, and spin liquid phases. Experimental techniques for preparing and detecting the resulting phases are discussed.