The ability to detect magnetic fields – a fascinating biological phenomenon

iScience – Myths in magnetosensation
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)00725-8
Published: May 23, 2022
By: Simon Nimpf, David A. Keays
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104454

Summary

The ability to detect magnetic fields is a sensory modality that is used by many animals to navigate. While first postulated in the 1800s, for decades, it was considered a biological myth. A series of elegant behavioral experiments in the 1960s and 1970s showed conclusively that the sense is real; however, the underlying mechanism(s) remained unresolved. Consequently, this has given rise to a series of beliefs that are critically analyzed in this manuscript. We address six assertions:

Magnetoreception does not exist;
It has to be magnetite;
Birds have a conserved six loci magnetic sense system in their upper beak;
It has to be cryptochrome;
MagR is a protein biocompass; and
The electromagnetic induction hypothesis is dead.

In advancing counter-arguments for these beliefs, we hope to stimulate debate, new ideas, and the design of well-controlled experiments that can aid our understanding of this fascinating biological phenomenon.

Index

Chapter 6, in EMF links
Birds
https://multerland.blog/emf-links/birds/

1. 1988 / Magnetic Orientation in Birds
Part of the Current Ornithology book series (CUOR, volume 5)
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4615-6787-5_2
Wolfgang Wiltschko, Roswitha Wiltschko
Published: 1988

6. 2009 / A Possible Effect of Electromagnetic Radiation from Mobile Phone Base Stations on the Number of Breeding House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15368370701205693?src=recsys
Joris Everaert, Dirk Bauwens
Published: 7 July 2009

8. 2009 / Understanding how birds navigate
Cryptochrome and Magnetic Sensing
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/cryptochrome/ **and** https://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Publications/pdfs/2009-09-23-SPIE_Understanding_How_Birds_Navigate.pdf
Authors: Ilia Solov’yov, Klaus Schulten

12. 2018 / We Finally Know How Birds Can See Earth’s Magnetic Field
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/04/04/we-finally-know-how-birds-can-see-earths-magnetic-field/#6d31a20e1d0f
By: Trevor Nace
Published: April 4, 2018

13. 2018 / Birds Can See Earth’s Magnetic Fields, And Now We Know How That’s Possible
https://www.sciencealert.com/birds-see-magnetic-fields-cryptochrome-cry4-photoreceptor-2018
Author: Michelle Star
Published: 1 September 2018

14. 2019 / Humans—like other animals—may sense Earth’s magnetic field
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/03/humans-other-animals-may-sense-earth-s-magnetic-field
By Kelly Servick
Published: March 18, 2019