Cover Picture: Phys. Status Solidi C 5–6/2014

Biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles have emerged as promising agents to be used in clinical applications including diagnosis by resonance imaging, drug delivery, and also selective destruction of tumors by hyperthermia. In this regard, despite many advanced synthesis methods have been developed to fabricate magnetic colloids, they usually result in small amounts of material, which are insufficient for most practical applications. Martinez‐Boubeta and co‐workers have fabricated relatively large (grams per hour) amounts of basalt‐derived nanoparticles (see pp. 1053–1058). They used solar furnace facilities in the Pyrénées‐Orientales in France to evaporate igneous rocks taken from the warm island of Lanzarote, with quite encouraging preliminary results. Not only do these basalt‐derived nanoparticles resemble bioactive materials, but also they are magnetic and have the ability to act as thermoseeds for cancer treatment using hyperthermia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reportedly work dealing with the development of magnetic nanoparticles from natural rocks abundant within the Earth's crust, and furthermore, using a facile, environmental friendly and cost effective process. The background photograph of the cover picture was adapted with permission from Björn Höfling.