IUBio

Human magnetic sense

Allen L. Barker alb at datafilter.com
Wed Jun 23 01:58:02 EST 2004


Wren Rice wrote:
> Many animals have been found to have internal magnets. They use these
> internal magnets for a variety of purposes. There is a bacterium that
> uses its internal magnetic material to sense up and down so it can find
> food on the bottom of its aquatic environment. Some birds are known to
> navigate by using their ability to sense the Earths magnetic field.
> 
> Humans have extremely limited or no magnetic sense. I question, could
> such a sense be surgically provided? Could a small implant be developed
> that would allow a human to sense the Earths magnetic field?

Just FYI, there is some evidence that magnetic field detection in
higher animals is via a visual modulation pattern:

    How Animals Use Earth's Magnetic Field
    http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/17613/

> If so, it would also raise a question of what this might do. Would there
> be a down side as well as an up side? A person would probably have a
> vastly improved sense of direction but, they might be prone to
> experience unpleasant sensations when getting near unstable magnetic
> fields or very strong fields such as an MRI machine.
> 


-- 
Mind Control: TT&P ==> http://www.datafilter.com/mc
Home page: http://www.datafilter.com/alb
Allen Barker




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