We have all thought about the possibilities of having a sixth sense. Maybe it is telepathy or being able to see heat signatures or sense future events. Or, and I’m sure you saw this coming, being able to ‘see dead people’. How about being able to sense magnetism – you know, like having a built-in compass? Well, in the 1770 a man named Franz Mesmer suggested that a sixth sense exists – he called it animal magnetism. He believed that it could be used to heal people if their ailments. Now, a recently published article in Scientific American explains that researchers are building on evidence published in Science that such a sense does, in fact, exist. Except, it is not used to heal people; it is used to find magnetic north for navigation.
Now, before you go outside and try to align yourself with magnetic north you should know that even current evidence is inconclusive and it mainly applies to migratory animals. Current leading hypotheses follow two lines of research – magnetic particles within animals or chemical reactions caused by magnetism. The former follows research that found microstructure magnetic particles in the beaks of homing pigeons. It is hypothesized homing pigeons could use sensory input from the particles to align with magnetic north and thus aid in bird’s legendary navigation skills. The latter follows research from the early 2000’s that suggests a protein, cryptochrome, in retinal cones is the mechanism for magnetic sense. This hypothesized that as photons bombard the protein, a lone pair of electrons is kicked out of antiparallel alignment and flip flops between antiparallel and parallel alignment until one of two things happens. If the bird goes back to magnetic north the antiparallel state prevails and the lone pair reunites spin. If the bird continues off magnetic north the parallel state prevails, a chemical reaction occurs and free-radical is produced – thus, alerting the animals that it is off course.
This is amazing to me for two reasons. First of all, how amazing is the scientific process? Decades of evidence piling up to potentially uncover a new sense! A new sense – get out! Secondly, this research may be able to explain a bunch of unknowns about how animals migrate and sense the world around them. This, once understood, could help support or refute research on whether human-source magnetism and radiation is having a significant impact on declining populations of animals such as bees, butterflies and birds.
The breadth of the unknown in science is staggering as evident by the possibility of a sixth sense. Maybe more senses exist in other animals. Maybe there are grasshoppers that can see into the future (although if that were true the ones who get caught by predators must be suicidal) or tuna that can see dead tuna. Sure Mesmer was far off on his interpretation of the sixth sense – but was he farther off than Nostradamus who believed he could read the future? It is amazing how often ‘crazy ideas’ have a shred of truth to them.
Posted by William Mohn
This is fascinating. I've heard that there are other senses that animals can sense. Sharks and many fish sense electrical fields, certain squids can sense the polarization of light, many birds can see colors we can't even imagine, etc. Imagine experiencing one day having any one of those senses, our perception of the world may be changed forever.
ReplyDeletePosted by Joseph Frimpong
Having a sixth sense would be interesting. I do think that animals have a sixth sense from what i have observed. I never looked into the actual inner-workings of why they acts the way they do, but animals seem more in tune to the environment. If humans could understand and harness the sixth sense, the world would be a very different place.
DeletePosted by Jen Silva
Existing hypotheses about how animals use senses, and possible have senses that homo sapiens do not just boggles my mind. The idea that birds are able to detect north because photons can chemically influence a bird's flight path seems brilliant, but how is a hypothesis like that studied?
DeleteI wouldn't put it past me either that humans do, in fact, posses some sort of magnetism or 'sixth' sense. Have you ever noticed that you have a seemingly good sense of direction compared to another friend, or that you are always lost, while a friend in freshman year didn't even need a map to orient themselves on campus? Humans have used orientation and cartography. Maps have been traced back to 1600 BCE, and the Vatican, Italy, is home to thousands of medieval and Renaissance era maps that are eerily similar to modern maps. Has technology inhibited some of our senses? Have GPS's, airplanes, radar and other computer technologies impaired our sense of direction?
Posted by Karen-Maria Melendez
There is some speculation that our sixth sense is indeed magnetism. Many animals can tell when earthquakes are coming, and one of the ways they might be able to sense this would be a shift in magnetism in the Earth itself. An interesting test would be to EKG an animal during an earthquake and see what parts of its brain are being triggered that are out of the ordinary. Maybe that could give us some clues as to where to search for what exactly lets animals know things about nature that we don't.
Deleteby Mike Selden
This post is very interesting and a topic I have never really thought about. It is amazing how new things are discovered so frequently in science, and this sense could be the start to further findings. I would have to agree that animals do seem as if they know more about their surroundings, and understand their environment better then any human. I hope more evidence can surface about this discovery and wonder if any other animal, human or insect could understand this sixth sense.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started to read this blog, my immediate though was that it wasn't a very scientific topic. However, you bring up good points and interesting articles. The fact that an actual protein has possibly been identified as having to do with magnetic orientation is amazing. So many sci fi movies and tv shows have to do with humans possibly having a sixth sense and now there is actually evidence to back up some of these ideas that were previously only fiction.
ReplyDeletePosted By Erica Bonnell
This is what I find so fascinating as well! As an unashamed Star Trek fan I am always astonished with the writers ideas about how evolution could have produced differing sentient beings. This research really got me thinking about what other senses could have existed in humans had the evolutionary pressures been right (and had the possible 'other sense' been even biologically possible...). It also got me thinking about if there are any current modern pressures on humans (that have enough staying power to be around for 10's of thousands of years... unlike gps, texting and other relatively fleeting pressures) that may affect our evolutionary future to form new senses. If the lab is the workplace for scientists - science fiction is the playground.
DeletePosted by William Mohn
I agree with the above comments in this is a very interesting topic. I am curious to know what other animals have been tested for this and what those results were. I always thought that it was just an animals 'instincts' which led them in the right direction. I wonder if any other animal 'instincts' could possibly be a sixth sense?
ReplyDeletePosted by Nicco Ciccolini
If you want to take this whole thing a step further, some people have started artificially implanting a "sixth sense" in themselves. The process is called "biohacking" and is not endorsed by medical professionals. One form of biohacking is to implant small magnets under your fingers that press against your nerves when they sense an electrical current. The process is fairly unsafe but people are cutting themselves in kitchens across the country to test it out. Here's a link in case anybody is curious
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2011/01/05/biohackers-and-grinders/
Mike Selden
It is fascinating to finally see a plausible explanation for migratory instinct. The micro element to the theory involving electrons being knocked in an out of alignment really sheds light on a sensory element in living beings that goes far beyond nerve impulses and blatant stimuli such as light and temperature. It is also interesting to see if this may play a role in the disappearance of bees across the States.
ReplyDelete- Jeff Keating (2)