Can humans sense the Earth's magnetic field ?

[UM-Bot]

The results of a recent experiment suggest that it is not just animals that can sense our planet's magnetism.

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/335668/can-humans-sense-the-earths-magnetic-field

Edit: Please read the story before commenting - this is about an experiment that was conducted last year.

[Piney]

30 minutes ago, UM-Bot said:

Edit: Please read the story before commenting - this is about an experiment that was conducted last year.

Quote

"Our results indicate that human brains are indeed collecting and selectively processing directional input from magnetic field receptors," the researchers concluded.

The one built into our noses.

https://anthropology.net/2006/11/21/the-tiny-magnetite-compass-in-the-human-nose/

Quote

Could this be some leftover perception our ancestors once used many thousands of years ago ?

A experiment conducted by a anthropologist in California about 10 years ago showed that it was still very developed among ethnic groups who were still hunter-gatherers in recent history. But that paper is behind a paywall somewhere and I'm trying to find it.  

@Kenemet  Do you remember this or the woman's name? 

[XenoFish]

Interesting. I'm just waiting for the regular group of esp believers to pop in. 

[The_Phantom_Stranger]

I read the story, but that still doesn't change the relevance of my comment. I read a book years ago that must have been published in the 80's, no later than the 90's. It was a collection of random facts and hypothesises like this, however I don't remember what its name was or the author. It said that iron builds up more in the nose than other parts of the body and that might give humans a sense to the northern pole.

I'm guessing this has been suspected much earlier than the 80's.

[Piney]

23 minutes ago, Green Wasp said:

I read the story, but that still doesn't change the relevance of my comment. I read a book years ago that must have been published in the 80's, no later than the 90's. It was a collection of random facts and hypothesises like this, however I don't remember what its name was or the author. It said that iron builds up more in the nose than other parts of the body and that might give humans a sense to the northern pole.

I'm guessing this has been suspected much earlier than the 80's.

My first comment was deleted too, and yes, the theory first started in the 80's. It's not that iron builds up in the nose, there is actually a piece of magnetite there.

Another interesting thing is all mammals travel in circles. Even people who are lost. I've always been interested in why they do that.  

[Seti42]

I think that if humans have a magnetic sense, it's vestigial or dormant at best. We don't need it, and haven't needed it for millennia. We invented the cardinal directions, and have really easy vision-based ways of utilizing that...As well as the ability to communicate complex ideas (like spacial directions/coordinates) to each other.

[Kenemet]

4 hours ago, Piney said:

The one built into our noses.

https://anthropology.net/2006/11/21/the-tiny-magnetite-compass-in-the-human-nose/

A experiment conducted by a anthropologist in California about 10 years ago showed that it was still very developed among ethnic groups who were still hunter-gatherers in recent history. But that paper is behind a paywall somewhere and I'm trying to find it.  

@Kenemet  Do you remember this or the woman's name? 

No, though I do know an ex-pat in Australia who was working on this as a grad student.  He's involved with hapatic research (think of it as a "spidey sense") and wore a monitor for awhile that tingled true north to see if his sense of direction could be trained.  I don't remember the results now.

[Kleng]

There's a lot that humans can subconsciously know or "sense" that science hasn't been able to prove yet. 

[Susanc241]

2 hours ago, Piney said:

Another interesting thing is all mammals travel in circles. Even people who are lost. I've always been interested in why they do that.  

My understanding of this effect is that no one has even sized strides.  If your stride with your left leg, say, is a little bit longer than your right you will walk in a clockwise circle on terrain that has no land marks, like a desert.  The difference in stride length  only needs to be a millimetre or two and if you walk long enough you will proscribe a huge circle.  Same happens if you blindfold a person and tell them to walk in a straight line.

[L.A.T.1961]

1 minute ago, Susanc241 said:

My understanding of this effect is that no one has even sized strides.  If your stride with your left leg, say, is a little bit longer than your right you will walk in a clockwise circle on terrain that has no land marks, like a desert.  The difference in stride length  only needs to be a millimetre or two and if you walk long enough you will proscribe a huge circle.  Same happens if you blindfold a person and tell them to walk in a straight line.

I am not sure stride length would make a difference? if walking over rough terrain then every stride by each leg could be different which would create a random result. Circling creates a search pattern which would be useful if unfamiliar with the local area?

[Piney]

11 minutes ago, Susanc241 said:

My understanding of this effect is that no one has even sized strides.  If your stride with your left leg, say, is a little bit longer than your right you will walk in a clockwise circle on terrain that has no land marks, like a desert.  The difference in stride length  only needs to be a millimetre or two and if you walk long enough you will proscribe a huge circle.  Same happens if you blindfold a person and tell them to walk in a straight line.

Deer, free range horses and cattle, goats, mountain lions, coyotes and bison all do it though.

3 minutes ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

 Circling creates a search pattern which would be useful if unfamiliar with the local area?

A "built in" response to locate food and other resources maybe? Archaic Indians bands in the Northeast of North America had huge band territories. Now that I think about it, they were almost circular in shape.

[L.A.T.1961]

The article does not make clear if the brain stimulation is in response to a detector in humans sending a signal to the brain, in response to a magnetic field, or that the magnetic field is having a direct effect on brain matter?

Magnetic fields have other effects on the brain and they can stimulate limb movement, are we saying that this is also a built in feature of the brain to allow humans to be remote controlled.  

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180130162433.htm

[L.A.T.1961]

4 minutes ago, Piney said:

Deer, free range horses and cattle, goats, mountain lions, coyotes and bison all do it though.

A "built in" response to locate food and other resources maybe? Archaic Indians bands in the Northeast of North America had huge band territories. Now that I think about it, they were almost circular in shape.

I think you would be better off if a random exploration trip tended to bring you back to where you started. So it could be an evolved trait. Whether its magnetic guidance, daylight or something else that allows this behavior seems open to debate. 

[Piney]

Just now, L.A.T.1961 said:

I think you would be better off if a random exploration trip tended to bring you back to where you started. So it could be an evolved trait. Whether its magnetic guidance, daylight or something else that allows this behavior seems open to debate. 

I have a cousin who owns 14,000 acres of Pine Barrens and another land owner friend with a contiguous 10,000 I would get purposely lost in as a teen. Cut off the trail and just explore. I've had that happen several times.  I just would like to understand it. 

[L.A.T.1961]

11 minutes ago, Piney said:

I have a cousin who owns 14,000 acres of Pine Barrens and another land owner friend with a contiguous 10,000 I would get purposely lost in as a teen. Cut off the trail and just explore. I've had that happen several times.  I just would like to understand it. 

If it is something that is repeatable, like your own experience, then it could be embedded evolved behavior. 

[Jujo-jo]

On 3/22/2020 at 3:16 PM, Piney said:

Deer, free range horses and cattle, goats, mountain lions, coyotes and bison all do it though.

A "built in" response to locate food and other resources maybe? Archaic Indians bands in the Northeast of North America had huge band territories. Now that I think about it, they were almost circular in shape.

Well I'm thinking of sharks and sea turtles... 

[XenoFish]

On 3/22/2020 at 2:40 PM, Kleng said:

There's a lot that humans can subconsciously know or "sense" that science hasn't been able to prove yet. 

We know more than you think.

http://journalpsyche.org/processing-information-with-nonconscious-mind/

The recticular activating system is the filter through which information is processed. 

[qxcontinuum]

I experienced a very interesting collective event when I was kid in general school. A couple of seconds before an earthquake we all rose up looking at each other waiting for something to happen but surprized ourself by the mass reaction. 3-4 seconds later the school started to tremble.

Edited March 30, 2020 by qxcontinuum