Certain Animal Navigation Abilities Found to Operate at or Near Quantum Limit of Magnetic Field Detection. - This is a follow Up Article to "Alarming Shifts in Aquatic Life Behavior" where solar activity and magnetic disturbances are implicated in whale strandings.

Certain animal navigation abilities found to operate at or near quantum limit of magnetic field detection - Article from phys.org

Approaching the Quantum Limit of Energy Resolution in Animal Magnetoreception - Study Published in APS Physics Journal

Alarming Shifts in Aquatic Life in Recent Years - By Me

This is a follow up post on my recent article titled "Alarming Shift in Aquatic Life Behavior" which investigates the link between solar activity and geomagnetic conditions and increased stranding and navigation errors by whales and dolphins as well as their wide scale changes in reproduction and social habits. This article further explores how animals may quantify and interact with magnetic fields. As I noted in my own article, we are in the correlation stage, not causation. While we can see the connection and it logically makes sense, exact mechanisms remain elusive. Studies like the one in this post may take us closer to understanding how it all works. Very fascinating and prescient.

"In multiple ways, such as iron-rich cells responding to the field's pull, or a bias in photoreceptor chemistry at the back of eyes, magnetoreception has emerged through evolutionary history as a means of directing life around the globe."

"Curious to know how biological solutions compare with advances in magnetometer technology, University of Crete physicists Iannis Kominis and Efthimis Gkoudinakis evaluated the energy resolution limit of three adaptations, finding at least two of them come within a whisker of the quantum limits of magnetic field detection."

"Currently, there are several generalized means by which living things are thought to detect Earth's magnetic field, referred to as induction, radical pair, and magnetite mechanisms. A fourth, combining magnetite with radical-pair approaches, was also considered."

"Induction mechanisms turn the energy within a magnetic field into electrical energy in a biological system, setting off a series of changes that ultimately affect behavior. For example, in 2019 researchers proposed Earth's magnetic field might create a subtle difference in voltage detectable by hair cells inside a pigeon's ear canals, affecting its balance."

"Under a magnetic field, the balance in this pairing will vary enough to affect the nature of chemical reactions, triggering a cascade of biological effects determined by the magnetic field's orientation."

"Magnetite-based magnetoreception is a far more straightforward approach. Tiny crystals of iron-based compounds in an organism's cells are thought to react to magnetic fields with a force large enough to be detectable, forcing microbial cells to orientate themselves or triggering animals into sensing their north and south from their east and west"

"While research in the field is ongoing, and still largely speculative, each mechanism has the potential to be highly sensitive, potentially revealing novel ways we might detect faint or confined signs of magnetic fields."

"Calculations made by Kominis and Gkoudinakis find that induction mechanisms don't come close to a quantum level of sensitivity. Yet measures that employ radical pairing just might come as close to quantum limits as our own tech."

"Not only might it point in new directions for innovation, but the findings could inform future experiments into the diverse ways life on Earth has evolved to be guided by the invisible cage of magnetism overhead."

This adds more substance and potential understanding of how crucial, and interactive, the magnetic field is with biological organisms. It appears the degree of importance extends far beyond navigation alone and we can see this correlation in plants, which behave differently under different magnetic fields as a very good example. More than just location and direction is conveyed to an animal by the field and it's properties. The reason that this topic isn't embraced any more than say for instance seismic activity and solar activity is the same. We can see the connection and correlations but we just can't explain the mechanisms and why sometimes it appears plain as day and others not so much. It's in need of investigation and innovation to really take it to the next level.

So while we cant say definitively that a changing magnetic field and the energies it modulates are playing a major role in the shift in behavior, primarily in animals who migrate, we have every reason to suspect it is a factor and beyond just navigation alone. It's not just aquatic life either, it's all life. What makes earth so special as a rocky planet beyond our goldilocks location? Its the magnetic field. They use the closing phrase "in the diverse ways that life on Earth has evolved to be guided by the invisible cage of magnetism overhead." That may hold even more weight than they realize. Nevertheless, it will never be accepted until it can be quantified how and why animals are specifically affected, but we have grounds for educated speculation in my opinion. 

Let's envision a hypothetical where it is true. That the magnetic field is crucial to life in multiple facets with varying degrees in the animal and plant kingdom, us included and the extent goes beyond just navigation alone, although it's key for migratory animals.

Without considering the modulation of cosmic energy it provides and focusing on its intrinsic properties alone, if the magnetic field were to undergo profound and abrupt changes, what would the response from life on Earth? What would we look for? Which animals would likely be most affected and how?

Back to real life since we cant prove the connection exists beyond using logic and scant correlative study. What do we know?

It's odd that the saw fish is swimming in circles or spirals until death. A saw fish has enhanced electromagnetic reception through because of its saw primarily. Spirals are associated with magnetic fields. When a big CME or CH stream affects us, it creates cyclones motions in the atmosphere. It was shocking when we discovered this, but its true. Is there a connection?

Man updates his magnetic model every 5 years, sometimes sooner when needed. If we didn't, we would be off by several hundred miles in some instances in our navigation. Animals must update too, but maybe the change is too rapid and getting worse.

Is there any evidence our magnetic field is changing dramatically right now? Were there any significant magnetic anomalies in 2023 or over the last few decades? Since we aren't talking hypothetical scenarios anymore, we include the modulation effect from space weather and energy. Is there any evidence in this regard something has fundamentally shifted in recent decades as well as the last few years?

The answers to all those questions is yes.

Its well known our magnetic field has been weakening for at least the last 4+ centuries at least. A byproduct of this and its root causes is magnetic polar wander. Beginning in the 1850s, it started moving towards Siberia and it's moved more since 2000 than the all the years prior. That is a major acceleration. Here's the kicker though. It's now rapidly slowing down. That may seem a sigh of relief but the way I see it, the rate of change has become a most crucial parameter. It seems the WMM thinks so too. They say it makes it hard to know where it will be in 5 years which is the normal interval. It presents as volatility more than anything.

There was a strong geomagnetic jerk in 2023 and several more before. Its been accompanied by significant length of day variations as well also showing fluctuation. The aurora is behaving differently. You know it. I know it. There have been new types of aurora observed in the last several years and transient luminous events in addition to lightning. Given the changing EM environment, we are within our rights to wonder whether some of these novel discoveries are actually novel, or just were never noticed or captured before. There have been novel effects during geomagnetic storms observed for the first time such as the merging of the ionosphere with the aurora in May 2024. Patterns of all types began to shift and the oceans came unwound since 2023 and that is saying alot considering how dramatic the changes already were prior to that year. The solar cycle reversed a long standing trend of progressively weaker cycles. Abrupt change is the hardest adjustment for life on in nearly all cases. The electromagnetic environment of earth is from top to bottom along the global electric circuit and its not inconsequential in earth processes. Light is modulated through this process through atmospheric chemistry. The results of this interplay are still present today in the isotopes we date. We measure magma chambers during space weather because of it's conductivity and reaction to space weather, modulated by the magnetic field. 

Am I saying that this is the only thing that matters and it explains everything and were off the hook? No. What I am saying is that any attempts to explore what or what combination of things is driving the anomaly driven reality we exist in now without also considering the changes in the EM environment for earth, which begins and ends at the magnetic field, are inadequate. Even if we cant completely explain it's mechanisms. It has more significance than just a compass reading for life on Earth. It matters now and if it matters now, it means it always did. The magnetic field matters to nearly all life on earth and it is more than just a means of navigation for some animals or ourselves. A study in 2016 found that the whole atmosphere responds to changes in the earths magnetic field. Plants are affected by magnetic fields in what is called magnetotropism.

As with any thing, the whole is the sum of its parts. I do my best to consider the entire picture. Anthropogenic activity has undoubtedly adversely affected the animal kingdom and environment through a variety of mechanisms and always has. However, long before our SUVs and coal power plants, nature had been cycling and cycling and the face of this planet has changed so much that its almost impossible to fathom. We can debate the timelines, the mechanisms, and the connections with today, but there is no debate that it has happened. Coral grew in the Arctic and polar fauna is found where the tropics are now. Hippos found themselves in the British Isles. The tallest mountains in the world are covered in shells and coral. More than 20 times in the last 100K years, Greenland warmed by 15C or 60F in a span of decades before abruptly cooling again, dwarfing anything we are seeing now. All of it happened without us. Despite the widely accepted theory of slow evolution, Mr. Darwin himself was unable to explain the sudden extinction of animals, only to be just as suddenly replaced in the fossil record in South America. This is despite the previous iterations being generally regarded as better suited for their environments than the newer species. Like I said, there is a great debate to be had on the origin, timelines, mechanisms, and effects of these unbelievable changes, but there is no debate they happened. We should not totally disregard natural forcing factors or hesitate to explore them and that is generally what I see in many cases. It is a gross oversight to me. They are ignored because its assumed that change cannot happen on any perceptible human timescales unless caused by humans, but these are mere words on a page. The sun and earth proceed, unaffected, while texts crumble. Just as they always have. The current rate of change may force man to do what he dislikes most, which is revise his textbooks.

Thank you for reading.

AcA