In agreement with theoretical predictions by QCN researchers, a new highly efficient mode of thermal conduction was discovered and presently investigated, namely heat transport by magnetic excitations in quasi one- dimensional (1D) insulating materials. The magnetic conduction is highly anisotropic, dwarfing the usual lattice contribution (by up to a factor of 50) and has mostly been studied in novel transition metal oxides with 1D spin structures such as the spin chain materials Sr₂CuO₃ and SrCuO₂ and the “ladder” compound (La,Sr,Ca)₁₄Cu₂₄O₄₁. The crucial point of this discovery is that around room temperature the magnetic heat conductivity κmag (of the order of 100 Wm⁻¹K⁻¹) is as efficient as metallic heat conduction.