Sentences with phrase «avian magnetic compass»

In bird eyes, suitable radicals are believed to be generated within cryptochrome, a light - absorbing protein that produces an as - yet - unidentified signaling molecule in a quantity determined by the field direction, resulting in an avian magnetic compass.

However, University of Oxford researchers report October 3 in Biophysical Journal that the current form of this «radical - pair mechanism» is not sensitive enough to explain the disruption of the avian magnetic compass by certain radiofrequency magnetic fields, raising new questions about this popular example of quantum biology.

This inability to explain the experimental performance of the avian magnetic compass raises a whole series of questions.