Sentences with phrase «magnetic compass»
A magnetic compass is a tool that helps us know which direction we are facing, using the Earth's magnetic field to guide us. Full definition
A built - in magnetic compass sets the starting point of the aerial towards the north.
newscientist.com
Thanks to new magnetic compass hardware, and a new graphical overlay framework, BlackBerry 7 also introduced support for augmented reality apps.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have made a key discovery about the internal magnetic compass of birds.
«We assume that birds use magnetic compasses any time of day or night,» says Lund biologist Rachel Muheim, a coauthor on the zebra finch study.
Even resident birds that do not migrate in the spring and autumn have a magnetic sense and navigate using their internal magnetic compass.
We hypothesized that retinal cryptochromes involved in magnetoreception should be expressed at a constant level over the circadian day, because birds use a light - dependent magnetic compass for orientation not only during migration, but also for spatial orientation tasks in their daily life.
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.
The light - dependent magnetic compass of birds provides orientation information about the spatial alignment of the geomagnetic field.
In one group of robins, the team removed cluster N, a brain region involved in processing signals from the «pair - forming photopigments» in the eyes thought to relay magnetic compass information.
Electrons also have a property known as spin; an electron can «spin up» or «spin down,» pointing like a tiny magnetic compass needle in one of two directions.
Currently, theoretical, behavioral and physiological evidences support two magnetic sensing hypotheses: a magnetite - mediated magnetic sense [4]--[6] and / or a vision - mediated magnetic compass [7].
«Computational study sheds doubt on latest theory of birds» mysterious magnetic compass.»
This inability to explain the experimental performance of the avian magnetic compass raises a whole series of questions.
These oscillating magnetic fields will only disrupt the birds» magnetic compass while the electrons remain entangled.
They also have to assume that Mars had a much stronger magnetic field in the past so that building an intracellular magnetic compass would be an advantage.
The light - dependent, radical - pair based, magnetic compass hypothesis suggests that magnetic modulations of radical - pair processes in photoreceptor molecules in the birds» eyes provide information about the individual's orientation relative to the magnetic field lines [7], [10].
By combining neuronal tracing with behavioral experiments leading to sensory - driven gene expression of the neuronal activity marker ZENK during magnetic compass orientation, we demonstrate a functional neuronal connection between the retinal neurons and Cluster N via the visual thalamus.
«The results raise the distinct possibility that this part of the visual system enables birds to «see» magnetic compass information,» conclude the researchers (Nature, DOI: 10.1038 / nature08528).
Biologists Kenneth Lohmann and Larry Boles at the University of North Carolina discovered that the spiny lobster Panulirus argus, an invertebrate not celebrated for brainpower, relies on an internal magnetic compass.
The collars contain magnetometers, which act like tiny magnetic compasses and so reveal which direction a mountain lion is facing.
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.
We conclude that Cry4 is the most likely candidate magnetoreceptor of the light - dependent magnetic compass in birds.
We combined a behavioral test for magnetic compass orientation in mole rats and immunocytochemical visualization of the transcription factor c - Fos as a marker of neuronal activity.
«It goes a long way to demonstrating that the magnetic compass response is mediated by the eye,» says Verner Bingman of Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Last year, Atticus Pinzón - Rodríguez and his colleagues noted that not only migratory birds navigate using a magnetic compass.
Spanish teams and experts at Helmholtz - Zentrum Berlin have now examined the magnetic compass of Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense at BESSY II.
«Even non-migratory birds use a magnetic compass.»
«Our results show that the magnetic compass is more of a general mechanism found in both migratory birds and resident birds.
Although the magnetic compass of birds has been studied by the research community for a long time, the understanding of how it works is still very incomplete, according to Atticus Pinzón - Rodríguez.
The researchers behind the current study have received help from a group of zebra finches to study the magnetic compass of what are known as resident birds, that is, species that do not migrate according to the season.
«We wanted to know how a magnetic compass works in non-migratory birds like these,» says Atticus Pinzón - Rodríguez, doctoral student in biology at the Faculty of Science at Lund University.
Chinese scholars discovered the magnetic compass, invented the seismoscope for detecting earthquakes, the equatorial mounting for astronomical observing instruments and unique methods for charting stars (both adopted by Tycho Brahe).
Not only migratory birds use a built - in magnetic compass to navigate correctly.
It seems that although zebra finches do not undertake extensive migration, they still might be able to use the magnetic compass for local navigation,» says Atticus Pinzón - Rodríguez.
The results show that the zebra finches use a magnetic compass with very similar functions to that of migratory birds, i.e. one with a very specific light dependency and thus sensitivity to different colours and light intensities.
Again the Chinese knew as early of the 5th century of the attractive properties and direction - seeking ability of the lodestone and how to make steel behave similarly, though the magnetic compass was not used for navigation until perhaps as late as the 10th century.
The bats use the way the Sun's light is scattered in the atmosphere at sunset to calibrate their internal magnetic compass, which helps them to fly in the right direction, a study published in Nature Communications has shown.
But under overcast skies, they rely instead on a magnetic compass, Guerra et al. found.
Satellite navigation is useless underground, and magnetic compasses are not accurate enough.
Previous research hinted that these bats reset their magnetic compass each night based on cues visible at sunset, but the particular cue or cues hadn't been identified.
A cell in the eye may be worth two in the beak, at least when it comes to a migratory bird's magnetic compass.
«Magnetoreception molecule found in the eyes of dogs, primates: Dog - like carnivores, some primate species may have a magnetic compass similar to that of birds.»
Since the 1970s, researchers have suspected eels could sense magnetic fields, and a 2013 study proposed the animals used a «magnetic compass» to orient using the North Pole.
Humans use GPS devices and Google Maps to guide them home, but loggerhead turtles still prefer a magnetic compass.
«The mole rat can use internal cues to orient short distances, while for long - distance orientation it also uses a magnetic compass,» says Kimchi.
This explains why the Vikings could rule the Atlantic Ocean for 300 years and could reach North America without a magnetic compass.