FLICKR, JEAN-DANIEL ECHENARD
Pigeons, sea turtles, spiny lobsters, and mole rats don’t need Google Maps or MapQuest to find their way home—they have built-in GPS. These animals and others rely on Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and navigation. But how their brains process magnetic information has been unclear.
Now, researchers have identified the neural source of magnetic sense in pigeons—single cells that encode three key positioning factors: the direction of a magnetic field, its intensity, and its polarity (north or south). The research, published today (April 26) in Science, is a first step toward understanding how animals, including humans, compute maps in their heads and could someday help clinicians treat individuals afflicted with spatial disorientation.
“The authors did a beautiful job” recording the neuronal activity, said Wolfgang Wiltschko ...
