"The results appeared in the Science on 20 November . "This is probably the clearest demonstration of the neural pathways responsible for magnetic processing in any animal," says Eric Warrant, a sensory biology researcher at the University of Lund in Sweden. Studies have suggested that various animals, including turtles, trout and robins, can sense the direction and strength of magnetic fields, although the evidence has sometimes been contested - and the mechanisms have remained controversial."
"Two leading hypotheses have led the research into how birds sense magnetic fields. One is a quantum-physics effect in retina cells where birds ' see' magnetic fields. Another is that microscopic iron oxide particles in the beak could act as tiny compass needles. However, it's largely unknown where magnetic information is sensed in animals' brains and how sensory neurons confer sensitivity to electromagnetic changes."
Pigeons can detect Earth's magnetic field by sensing tiny electrical currents in their inner ears, creating an internal compass for navigation. Advanced brain mapping and single-cell RNA sequencing of pigeon inner-ear cells indicate the inner ear functions as the magnetoreception organ. Two main hypotheses for avian magnetoreception include a quantum-physics effect in retina cells that lets birds 'see' magnetic fields and microscopic iron oxide particles in the beak acting as compass needles. Magnetic stimuli engage the vestibular system, whose three perpendicular fluid-filled loops encode acceleration components, linking vestibular circuitry to magnetic processing.
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