An inner ear magneto-receptor?
DOI: 10.1063/1.3086086
After reading SöUnke Johnsen and Ken Lohmann’s very thorough article on magnetoreception in animals (Physics Today, March 2008, page 29 ), I cannot help but think that they may have overlooked one of the most exquisitely sensitive electrical sensors in mammals and perhaps in other animals as well. This sensor is the inner ear, which is insulated to a large degree from the rest of the body. Of particular interest are the semicircular canals, located on three axes and containing a conductive fluid. Although in humans the main function of these truncated loops is balance, in the lower animals they may be usable for navigation as well. If you move a conductive truncated loop through a magnetic field, you will generate an electrical current; it follows that the semicircular canals in movement might yield the location in a magnetic field.
More about the Authors
Alan H. Purdy. (ahpurdy@nethere.com) San Marcos, California, US .
