Natures wonders: magnetic field sensing (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, February 25, 2023, 17:38 (635 days ago) @ David Turell

At the cellular level:

https://www.sciencealert.com/all-living-cells-could-have-the-molecular-machinery-for-a-...

"Scientists working on fruit flies have now identified a ubiquitous molecule in all living cells that can respond to magnetic sensitivity if it is present in high enough amounts or if other molecules assist it.

"The new findings suggest that magnetoreception could be much more common in the animal kingdom than we ever knew. If researchers are right, it might be an astonishingly ancient trait shared by virtually all living things, albeit with differing strengths.

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"Magnetoreception might sound like magic to us, but plenty of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and other mammals in the wild can sense the tug of Earth's magnetic field and use it to navigate space.

'Because this force is essentially invisible to our species, it took a remarkably long time for scientists to notice it.

***

"This molecule – a receptor in the retina of migrating birds called a cryptochrome – can sense light and magnetism, and it seems to work through quantum entanglement.

"In basic terms, when a cryptochrome absorbs light, the energy triggers one of its electrons, pushing it to occupy one of two spinning states, each of which is differently influenced by Earth's geomagnetic field.

"Cryptochromes have been a leading explanation for how animals sense magnetic fields for two decades, but now researchers at the Universities of Manchester and Leicester have identified another candidate.

"Manipulating the genes of fruit flies, the team found that a molecule called Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide (FAD), which usually forms a radical pair with cryptochromes, is actually a magnetoreceptor in and of itself.

"This basic molecule is found at differing levels in all cells, and the higher the concentration, the more likely it is to impart magnetic sensitivity, even when cryptochromes are lacking.

"In fruit flies, for instance, when FAD is stimulated by light, it generates a radical pair of electrons that are responsive to magnetic fields.

"However, when cryptochromes are present alongside FADs, a cell's sensitivity to magnetic fields increases.

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"Even though human cells show sensitivity to Earth's magnetic field, we don't have a conscious sense of that force. Maybe that's because we don't have any cryptochromes assisting."

Comment: helps show why many migrations use magnetic fields. How does chance evolution find these specialized molecules which use quantum attributes to sense the field? How about design. This shows how evolution must work. The appearance of migrating animals cannot happen until the biochemistry is in place. Since that apparatus is everywhere, that is most likely. Alternatively, by design creating separate animals with it seems very unlikely.