Dv might be interested in this.

>>Magnetoreception, or the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, pops up throughout the animal kingdom, but it’s generally thought to be something humans missed out on. But maybe we can after all. New research out of Caltech has found changes in human brain wave activity that seems to be in response to a changing magnetic field.

Bees, birds, bats, whales, turtles, salmon and eels are known to navigate by sensing the geomagnetic field. Humans, on the other hand, aren’t really thought to have that ability – at least not without some kind of wearable or implantable gadget. But some scientists believe we do have that innate sense to some degree, but so far nobody’s been able to prove it conclusively.<<

https://newatlas.com/magnetoreception-human-magnetic-field-sense/58918/

When I was just a wee young lad, I read about called “The Compass in Your Nose…”
https://www.amazon.com/Compass-Your-Nose-Astonishing-Humans/dp/0874775442

Published 1989

Lary said:

When I was just a wee young lad, I read about called “The Compass in Your Nose…”
https://www.amazon.com/Compass-Your-Nose-Astonishing-Humans/dp/0874775442

Published 1989

The full paper is here:

https://authors.library.caltech.edu/90480/4/ENEURO.0483-18.2019.full.pdf

It’s big. But if you look at the references (page 34), there are a number going quite a long way back suggesting this sort of thing.

Cheers

PermeateFree said:

Dv might be interested in this.

>>Magnetoreception, or the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, pops up throughout the animal kingdom, but it’s generally thought to be something humans missed out on. But maybe we can after all. New research out of Caltech has found changes in human brain wave activity that seems to be in response to a changing magnetic field.

Bees, birds, bats, whales, turtles, salmon and eels are known to navigate by sensing the geomagnetic field. Humans, on the other hand, aren’t really thought to have that ability – at least not without some kind of wearable or implantable gadget. But some scientists believe we do have that innate sense to some degree, but so far nobody’s been able to prove it conclusively.<<

https://newatlas.com/magnetoreception-human-magnetic-field-sense/58918/

The TV series “supersense” talked quite a bit about navigation by magnetic field.

“In William Keeton’s 1970 Magnets Interfere with Pigeon Homing paper, William Keeton proved that pigeons were affected by changes in the magnetic field surrounding them, and that pigeons were using the earth’s magnetic field as one way of finding their way home.”

Ever since 1970, scientists have looked for other organisms able to navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoreception “Magnetoreception is present in bacteria, arthropods, molluscs and members of all major taxonomic groups of vertebrates. Humans are not thought to have a magnetic sense”.

Many organisms contain crystals of magnetite, including humans. So many organisms, in fact, that scientists were forced to conclude that the magnetite had to serve a purpose other than detection of magnetic field.

> so far nobody’s been able to prove it conclusively

There has been an experiment that conclusively disproved it, at least in a narrow sense. Volunteers we taken out into a place where there were no visual clues for navigation, and asked to navigate using the earth’s magnetic field. They couldn’t do it.

More to the point, volunteers are even unable to detect when an NMR machine is on or off, despite the magnetic field of the NMR machine being very much stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field.

I say in a narrow sense because these volunteers were not pre-trained in detecting a magnetic field, nor was there any attempt to find a person who was a extremely sensitive to magnetic fields.

Would the average humans interaction with magnets in their daily life interfere with their ability to recognise the earths magnetic field??

Lary said:

Would the average humans interaction with magnets in their daily life interfere with their ability to recognise the earths magnetic field??

Yes. In a car for example, the magnetic field is very different.

> One way to validate the find would be to repeat the experiment in the Southern Hemisphere, where local brains should exhibit the opposite pattern.

Any bets on Southern hemisphere humans not displayimg the opposite pattern? 34 volunteers is not enough to eliminate the Texas sharpshooter problem.

To make this experiment sensible, it would have to be done:

A) in very much stronger magnetic fields first, slowly decreasing the magnetic field until a zero detection point is reached. Start with TMS strength. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation

B) in an environment completely soundproof (with just a smidgen of white noise to cover any sound leakage inwards), and without light. Eg, remembering the famous “horse sense” experiment, the experimenter’s breathing is a sure tip-off.

mollwollfumble said:

B) in an environment completely soundproof (with just a smidgen of white noise to cover any sound leakage inwards), and without light. Eg, remembering the famous “horse sense” experiment, the experimenter’s breathing is a sure tip-off.

Like this?? https://youtu.be/dg3pza4y2ws
I made my previous comment while watching this video, but the lead researcher made the same comments at the end, while speculating about reasons as to why magnetic sense isn’t so noticeable in humans.

Lary said:

mollwollfumble said:

B) in an environment completely soundproof (with just a smidgen of white noise to cover any sound leakage inwards), and without light. Eg, remembering the famous “horse sense” experiment, the experimenter’s breathing is a sure tip-off.

Like this?? https://youtu.be/dg3pza4y2ws
I made my previous comment while watching this video, but the lead researcher made the same comments at the end, while speculating about reasons as to why magnetic sense isn’t so noticeable in humans.

There was recently an article in New Scientist about a woman who can smell people with Parkinson’s Disease, amongst other things. She is the only known person with this ability.

Presumably it is possible that the ability to sense magnetic fields might be equally rare.

> Like this?? https://youtu.be/dg3pza4y2ws

Yes, i like it very much.

The 1980 study in the British countiside did not show “very significant results” unless you count a sample size of 1 as significant.

In the video, the subject could hear the experimenter breathing, and they didn’t start the test with magnetic fields strong enough to use for calibration.