  An infinitely thin solenoid carrying magnetic flux Phi (a `Dirac string')
inserted into an ordinary band insulator has no significant effect on the
spectrum of electrons. In a strong topological insulator, remarkably, such a
solenoid carries protected gapless one-dimensional fermionic modes when
Phi=hc/2e. These modes are spin-filtered and represent a distinct bulk
manifestation of the topologically non-trivial insulator. We establish this
`wormhole' effect by both general qualitative considerations and by numerical
calculations within a minimal lattice model. We also discuss the possibility of
experimental observation of a closely related effect in artificially engineered
nanostructures.
