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Creatures from migratory eels and other fish species to insects to birds tap into the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate, sometimes many thousands of miles. But so far, evidence has been scant for any such magnetic sense in humans. Now, research suggests that some people do indeed perceive magnetic fields, albeit unconsciously. In response to a changing magnetic field, so-called alpha brainwaves, the background “hum” of the brain, quieted in human volunteers, scientists reported yesterday (March 18) in eNeuro.
“This is the first very clear evidence and strong evidence for the ability of human beings to detect and transduce the earth’s magnetic field,” says Eric Warrant, a neuroethologist at Lund University in Sweden who was not part of the work. “It’s extremely carefully controlled,” notes Warrant, as the authors methodically monitored for confounding effects and potential sources of artifacts.
In the past, researchers looked for magnetoreception ...
