Humans Might Be Able to See the Earth's Magnetic Field, Like Birds Do

This is definitely cool. But I've also run into a couple people who know which way is north with their eyes closed. While this could be coincidence (even though there's a 100% success rate), I somewhat doubt it. Though I suppose they could also have a very good sense of direction (the experiment basically consists of a secure blindfold, lots of spinning, and a pointed finger).

Scientists formerly claimed that the function of magnetite found in the human brain was vestigial. They wrongly assumed as much by discounting something they couldn't consciously manipulate or quantify. In a few of my friends' stories during the recent earthquake in Japan, either they woke up that night and found themselves unable to fall back asleep, or they had a sense of dread and/or headache which lasted for the entire day. It was then that I believed the vestigial claims were completely wrong, and that we are much more affected by the Earth's magnetic field than we realize.

This theory is very interesting. Imagine if quantum mechanic's entanglement is perceived by animals and used for navigation. This will make future research and applications even more interesting. Animals may perceive much more... when a dog "smells" cancer or an animal predicts a storm maby they are utilizing more senses than we currently understand.

At the idea of seeing magnetic fields, I couldn't help but think of the old stories of Ley Lines and such. Wonder if this could be the cause of those myths?

The idea of seeing magnetic lines is nice, but it is certainly not going to replace a GPS, a GPS is way more accurate then what magnetic lines can achieve.

I don't believe that birds "see" the magnetic fields in the way you describe them. The magnetite allows them to sense the fields, and their brains process the information, but it could be much more of an automatic, perhaps even subconscious system than something as active as sight.

Thumbs up @ SlackLineAddict

If you inject human genes for 'eyes' in general into fly larvae (and replace their own eye genes)they will build themselves eyes; not human eyes but normal fly eyes.

Anything is possible, but this appears to be a highly speculative concept.

The articles cited do not support the statement 'have long known'. They are descriptions of other highly speculative theories.

Could all of this be true, sure, but I don't see that anybody has really got hard data to back up their theories.

@Vapur,

"they woke up that night and found themselves unable to fall back asleep, or they had a sense of dread and/or headache which lasted for the entire day."

And how many people have had those exact experiences only to never have an earthquake hit?

Migraines, anxiety, depression, and insomnia happen every single day... and most days go along without natural disasters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

@B.V.

Of course, the effect could have come from some unknown spiritual cause totally unrelated to magnetic fields, or even from misleading synchronized coincidences of symptoms. The whole point of the observation was that five people locally, as well as several remote friends recounting their stories on Facebook, had different symptoms correlating with the same event: something large enough to upset the magnetic field of the Earth. Having magnetite in the brain and some perturbation of its magnetic field may have resulted in responses from the autonomic nervous system in ways that are obviously not well understood by either scientists or the person undergoing the experience. Likely, it has nothing to do with common migraines, anxiety, depression, or insomnia ... and to follow, not all natural disasters disturb the Earth's magnetic field on such a large scale to register some curious reaction. If anything, it should be something not discounted, but taken as a valuable study case worthy of further research. Surely, people may have those symptoms even when unrelated to such large events, but the human body does have a tendency to exhibit the identical symptoms to something even though their cause may be completely different and vice versa with different symptoms from the same cause. My concern is with a piezoelectric effect on magnetite in the ethmoid bone sending signals through the brain and its other magnetite-containing tissues, without even covering other subjects.

http://www.affs.org/html/biomagnetism.html

@Vapur9... "five people locally, as well as several remote friends recounting their stories on Facebook, had different symptoms correlating with the same event: something large enough to upset the magnetic field of the Earth"...so, you believe in ghosts too? i can find that many people having different symptoms correlating with a rainy day and magic, they predicted the rain! you are on the wrong website, go to rubishpiles.com

so does this explain all the colors and shapes i see when i close my eyes at night to go to sleep?

@drchuck1
/throws a bone
As obvious from your reply, you intend to mock instead of provide any sort of argument to refute empirical evidence that may or may not have some validity to it. At least with the confirmation bias comment, there was some truth to it.

Off topic: as to your response, certainly the premise of "ghosts" can be explained by physical processes, even though that explanation could ultimately prove to be incorrect. When a person dies, the infrared light in their bodies is released over a period of time. Assuming that it is simply absorbed by the environment is a simple enough explanation. Residual energies - or vibrations that make up the quantum world as it were - could be absorbed by the immediate objects in the vicinity, able to be read by those sensitive to those energies. In effect, "ghosts" may simply be a faint reflection of what once was, in a form easily written off as illusory, the result of delusion, or quack voodoo. The walls may truly talk. Who can be certain? Not you or I; although, it seems you've already made up your mind to denounce any sort of meaningful discussion or explanations about the topic. Just remember, I'm wrong, and you're good to go.

@jedimindset
Those are the cones and rods in your eyes repairing themselves. During the day, when light hits your eyes it bleaches the proteins inside so that you can observe light/dark and color. Over time, certain proteins, such as Vitamin A, are introduced to prepare those cones and rods to refire. When you go to bed, your eyes are priming the rest of those cells back to their starting positions, which may give you the illusion of colors and shapes; however, that may also be the result of over-activity in the brain before you go to sleep. It is doubtful it has anything to do with observing magnetic fields.

@SlackLineAddict

Post of the month. Awesome inference.

@Vapur9
i thought it was my third eye going through Trans-dimensional portals. i actually see moving shapes going into the distance. i think its a spiritual thing.

@Vapur9,

5 anecdotes do not make a valid scientific study, nor a body of empirical evidence.

You could certainly propose a hypothesis like, "some people with higher concentrations of magnetization in their brains can actually sense magnetic shifts in the earths core and interpret those signals as a feeling of coming doom"

But you'd need a real study to support that claim--not 5 ppl from facebook.

Also... you'd probably have to cut into their brain to measure whether or not it actually contained more magnet-sensitive receptors (or whatever it is).

Since you do not actually have any of that stuff, your statements are nothing more than speculation.

It's interesting to think "what if" sometimes--but also important to indicate that we're engaged in a thought experiment and not actually creating claims we profess to be true.

@B.V.

Funnily enough, some peer reviewed studies seem to rely on just that quantity of empirical evidence ... though it is quite laughable and upsetting at the same time to see. I did not suggest that it was 5 persons, but rather 5 persons locally in addition to those remotely on Facebook (which could have been 10 or more, I don't recall, but still not a large enough sample anyway). However, I do think the vestigial claims of magnetite need to be revisited, because there seems to be more going on than we realize. My claim was simply to show that I am in denial of broadly accepted scientific claims due to the unexplained coincidental reactions of a limited number of persons.

Those cells are the reason for our sense of direction. The retina was a convenient place for the receptors to be placed because they then have unshielded access to the external world filtered thru a sterile (most of the time) medium. There is more than visual information passed thru the optic nerve.

You guys should go to Vapur9's previous link. http://www.affs.org/html/biomagnetism.html.
Then you'll see why it's no use arguing with him...