Month: September 2022

MOLE-RATS. “The magnetic compass of mole-rats is affected by brief magnetic pulses with an intensity high enough to re-magnetize magnetite particles. The same properties were found for the magnetoreceptors of microphthalmic bats. Importantly, the magnetic compass of Ansell’s mole-rats was unaffected by a treatment specifically designed to perturb the radical pair mechanism using a RF field in the low MHz range (broadband as well as Larmor frequency, i.e., 1.315 MHz)16 over 300 times stronger than that shown to cause disorientation in birds.” https://lnkd.in/etSP2df View in LinkedIn

DISRUPTION. “Exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) fields can disrupt orientation to static GMF. Burda et al. showed that 50 Hz fields of about 0.1 μT (more than two orders of magnitude lower than the static GMFs) can disrupt orientation of ruminants to the GMF. This is not an isolated finding. A number of reports found that ELF magnetic fields in the 1 μT range can disrupt orientation to GMF. Surprisingly, Engels et al. showed that anthropogenic electromagnetic noise, as weak as 100 nT and as integrated between 2 kHz and 5 MHz, disrupts magnetic compass orientation in migratory European robins.” https://lnkd.in/d-hY-TE View in LinkedIn

CURIOUS LANDMARK. “In 1984, Kavaliers, Ossenkopp, and Hirst published a seminal paper that magnetic fields from two counter rotating horseshoe magnets could abolish morphine induced analgesia in mice.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bem.21918/full View in LinkedIn

CONFIRMATIONS. “In 1984, it was initially discovered in mice that an extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) could attenuate opiate induced analgesia. In the past 30 years, we defined some of ELF-MF exposure and subject state conditions that can both increase and decrease nociception in snails and mice and can induce analgesia in humans.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bem.21918/full View in LinkedIn

RADIO INTERFERENCE. “Current evidence indicates that exposure at levels that are found in the environment (in urban areas and near base stations) may particularly alter the receptor organs to orient in the magnetic field of the earth. These results could have important implications for migratory birds and insects, especially in urban areas, but could also apply to birds and insects in natural and protected areas where there are powerful base station emitters of radiofrequencies.” https://lnkd.in/d6NSxdX View in LinkedIn

PLANETARY MAGNETISM. “The geomagnetic field (GMF) is a natural component of our environment. Plants, which are known to sense different wavelengths of light, respond to gravity, react to touch and electrical signaling, cannot escape the effect of GMF. While phototropism, gravitropism, and tigmotropism have been thoroughly studied, the impact of GMF on plant growth and development is not well-understood.” https://lnkd.in/dCeCN2g View in LinkedIn

MAGNETIC IMPACTS. “Magnetic or electromagnetic fields have shown effects on morphogenesis from different initial explants; on growth-related parameters of in vitro shoots, roots, somatic embryos, and callus; and on the photosynthetic pigment profile, level of stress-induced alanine production, activity of stress-related enzymes, and endogenous levels of cytokinins and auxins.” https://lnkd.in/dEMTV8A View in LinkedIn

The consequence of thinking. View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE focuses on a very thoughtful article on astrobiology by the computational physicist, Dr Dimitri Atri. The article is entitled ‘On the possibility of galactic cosmic ray-induced radiolysis-powered life in subsurface environments in the Universe.’ It is often said that 21st century biology is where physics was in the 19th century; contributing to this is the fact that current biology has two monumental failings: (1) no acceptable explanation for the origin of life, and (2) no consensus definition for what life is. This excellent article tackles a part of the first open question. https://lnkd.in/d_zYZ9Z View in LinkedIn

LIFE POWERED BY RADIOACTIVITY. “A bizarre microbe found deep in a gold mine in South Africa could provide a model for how life might survive in seemingly uninhabitable environments through the cosmos. Known as Desulforudis audaxviator, the rod-shaped bacterium thrives 2.8 kilometers underground in a habitat devoid of the things that power the vast majority of life on Earth—light, oxygen, and carbon. Instead, this “gold mine bug” gets energy from radioactive uranium in the depths of the mine. Now, scientists predict that life elsewhere in the universe might also feed off of radiation, especially radiation raining down from space.” https://lnkd.in/dTTZx97 View in LinkedIn