IUBio

Human magnetic sense

N nicki.cee at virgin.net
Sat Jun 26 17:35:26 EST 2004


"Allen L. Barker" <alb at datafilter.com> wrote in message news:<_R9Cc.23041$Y3.21137 at newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>...
> 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.
> >

Message-ID: <000001c306dd$208daa40$a23bd40c at attbi.com>



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