Magnetic - Dr

Homing pigeons are well known for their extraordinary sense of direction, which is thought to result from a specialized sense that allows them to navigate using the Earth's magnetic field. New research published today in Nature has revealed that cells previously thought to be the center of the magnetic sense in birds are instead non-magneto-receptive macrophages (white blood cells). This important finding has reset current thinking in avian magnetic navigation and places the field back on course for the search for the true location of the magnetic sense in birds. Dr Jeremy Shaw and Professor Martin Saunders of The University of Western Australia's Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis assisted with the characterization of these macrophage cells as part of an international study of homing pigeons. Scientists are also investigating if similar navigational tools are used by other animal species such as bees, rainbow trou,t and sea turtles. Dr Shaw worked on this project with Dr David Keays, an Australian who now works at the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria. It took a team of Australians and Austrians to show that the established dogma in the field was completely wrong. The mystery of how animals detect magnetic fields has just got more mysterious, Dr. Keays said. Shaw's recent study of pigeons found that