Human brain can detect Earth’s magnetic field

A team of scientists has found that the human brain is capable of detecting the Earth’s magnetic field, challenging previous studies.

The team, from the California Institute of Technology in theUS, believes humans were once able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field and useit for navigation purposes, just like many other living beings, but eventuallylost this skill, the Sputnik News Agency reported.

   

The discovery shows humans have not entirely lost themechanism of orienting themselves using the magnetic field.

The team, including Shinsuke Shimojo, a Professor at thevarsity, found the mechanism behind the ability to sense magnetic fields liesin the brain cells’ newly discovered ability to form nanocrystals of theferromagnetic mineral magnetite.

Such crystals, found in many organisms as well, essentiallywork as micromagnets. Although the nature of their functions in cells has beenpoorly studied so far, theoretically it can be used to keep track of theEarth’s magnetosphere, they said.

To understand in better, researchers placed the small groupof participants on a simple chair inside a Faraday cage, which filtered out alloutside magnetic fields and then they used the coils installed in the cage togenerate an artificially controlled magnetic field.

Although the participants did not feel anything, theirbrains, connected to an electroencephalography (EEG) machine, clearly respondedwhen researchers shifted the direction of the artificial field, the reportsaid.

Their brains filtered out “irrelevant” informationabout the field, Shimojo said.

The brain also ignored magnetic fields, which were at least25 per cent stronger than the one generated by the Earth, meaning variouselectronic devices, generating such fields cannot affect the brain’s functions,he noted.

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