Scientists at Oxford University have given an insight into how birds use chemical reactions to help them navigate.With the Earth's magnetic field exuding such a weak force, it has remained a mystery how birds, and other species such as mammals,reptiles and insects, are able to use it to navigate their way around the globe or local habitat. Some researchers have suggested that birds use magnetically-sensitive chemical reactions initiated by light to navigate however until now, no chemical reaction has been demonstrated in the laboratory.
"Because the Earth’s magnetic field is so weak many people found it difficult to understand how it could affect bird or animal sense organs in a way which would help them to navigate," said Professor Peter Hore of Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry who, along with Dr Christiane Timmel, led the research:
“Our experiments with a model chemical system prove that it is possible for molecules to detect weak magnetic fields and to respond to their directions,” said the professor in a statement.
In the laboratory the team was able to demonstrate how a molecule, when placed under illumination, becomes sensitive to both the magnitude and the direction of the Earth's minuscule magnetic field.
"Over millions of years birds, and other animals, have evolved exquisitely sensitive chemical compasses which we are only beginning to understand,” Prof. Hore said.
“Our work outlines the principles behind such a compass; we hope that biochemists and neurophysiologists will be able to identify and locate the molecules involved and elucidate the biochemical signalling pathways.”
Though the molecule, developed at Arizona University, is unlikely to represent birds' actual biological compass, the scientists claim their research shows how such a compass would work.
Their findings are published in the journal Nature.
Scientists have reproduced the molecule similar to that which helps birds navigate using the Earth\'s magnetic field. Photo: Birds migrating. Credit: McGun/flickr
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