Human eye protein senses Earth's magnetism (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

A light-sensitive protein in the human eye has been shown to act as a "compass" in a magnetic field, when it is present in flies' eyes.

The study in Nature Communications showed that without their natural "magnetoreception" protein, the flies did not respond to a magnetic field - but replacing the protein with the human version restored the ability.

Despite much controversy, no conclusive evidence exists that humans can sense the Earth's magnetic field, and the find may revive interest in the idea.

Although humans, like migratory birds, are known to have cryptochrome in their eyes, the idea of human magnetoreception has remained largely unexplored since pioneering experiments by Robin Baker of the University of Manchester in the 1980s.

Dr Baker used a long series of experiments on thousands of volunteers that suggested humans could indirectly sense magnetic fields, though he never definitively identified the mechanism. In subsequent years, several groups attempted to repeat those experiments, claiming opposing results.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13809144
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n6/full/ncomms1364.html




I think I see where this is headed ...

[tridim]

1. Maps? We don't need no stinkin' maps.

I'll bet money that there are other parts of the brain that can sense magnetic fields. I'd be, shocked, if that wasn't the case.

[FirstLight]

2. hmmmm....

makes me think of times when you can 'feel' your way in the dark or when your vision is messed up... how blind people can move fluidly without having certain equilibrium issues... i don;t know, but it is pretty cool....

[mike_c]

3. the sensitive protein is only one step in the sensory transduction chain...

...and it only takes one broken step to halt perception.