3 ms·

In the Blink of Bird's Eye, a Model for Quantum Navigation

• pavel_lishin 12y ago
  > That second field was so weak — less than one-third of 1 percent of Earth’s field — that it could only have influenced a quantum-sensitive system. While I love the idea of quantum robins, if I had to place a five dollar bet somewhere, it would be on that assumption being incorrect.
  • trhway 12y ago
    Wrt. strength change - the Earth's field would easily change 1% depending on your location, so definitely shouldn't be an issue for a sea/continent crossing birds. What is special about the second field is that it was probably much more - several orders of magnitude - curved than the Earth's field (which for practical purposes of flying to Africa is a bunch of straight lines pointing to South). I'd bet those "ripples" and "criss-crosses" was what confused the bird. And in addition the field was oscillating :) From the article : "Moreover, in the 7-MHz oscillating field, this effect depended on the angle between the oscillating and the geomagnetic fields. The birds exhibited seasonally appropriate migratory orientation when the oscillating field was parallel to the geomagnetic field, but were disoriented when it was presented at a 24 or 48 degree angle. "