A Multidisciplinary Team of Scientists Aims to Solve the Mystery of Magnetoreception
A Multidisciplinary Team of Scientists Aims to Solve the Mystery of Magnetoreception
Experts are investigating whether invisible magnetic forces which guide migrating animals around the globe can also affect humans.
Scientists have long known that many animals have a magnetic sense, which they use to navigate around the Earth, particularly during their spectacular seasonal migrations.
It’s also been suggested humans might be affected by magnetic fields in both positive and negative ways. For instance, deep brain magnetic stimulation is used to treat depression, while there are also suspicions children living near power lines may be more susceptible to disease.
A team of researchers led by the University of Leicester alongside Manchester and Oxford Universities and the National Physical Laboratory in London, has been awarded £3 million by the Wellcome Trust in an attempt to understand the effects of magnetic fields in living systems.
Kavli Oxford Professors Stuart Peirson, Professor of Circadian Neuroscience and Deputy Director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, and Mark Hankins, Professor of Visual Neuroscience and Associate Head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, will work on the project.
Professor Peirson said:
"This award will help further our research and understanding of Magnetoreception, which is one of the most fundamental unanswered questions in sensory biology."
As well as migrating animals including bird species, turtles, and sharks, other non-migrating animals have been reported to detect magnetic fields, sometimes in curious settings such as dogs and cows.
Leicester’s Professor of Behavioural Genetics and co-investigator Charalambos Kyriacou said: “We are a team with a unique blend of expertise, bridging the gap between quantum physics, whose principles underly magnetoreception, and behaviour."
“Our interdisciplinary approach has already provided major advances in this area. Thus, we are uniquely positioned to attempt to solve this fascinating and long-standing biological enigma.”
The award by the Wellcome Trust, which provides funding for scientific endeavours, will support the team’s research work over the next five years.
