• Home
  • Shop
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Contact us
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
  • Home
  • Esports
  • PC Games
  • PS4
  • PS5
  • Switch
  • Wii U
  • XBox 360
  • XBox One
  • Xbox Series X
  • Mobile
  • Game News
No Result
View All Result
GameNewsUSA
wow warcraft alliance horde cataclysm leveling guide
  • Home
  • Esports
  • PC Games
  • PS4
  • PS5
  • Switch
  • Wii U
  • XBox 360
  • XBox One
  • Xbox Series X
  • Mobile
  • Game News
No Result
View All Result
GameNewsUSA
No Result
View All Result
Home Switch

Bird brains can flick switch to perceive Earth’s magnetic field  

May 25, 2023
in Switch
0

Top panel: photomicrograph of a representative GluR-1-labeled brain section from cohort 2. The black arrow indicates the DNH (dorsal nucleus of the hyperpallium), which is a neurochemical landmark used to localize Cluster N. Scale bar, 1.5 mm. Bottom panel: line drawing of a brain section showing sampling boxes for counting ZENK-labeled neurons from the Cluster N images. The outlined shaded area indicates Cluster N’s location. The dark ellipse indicates the location of the DNH. Boxes indicate fields of view for which we took photomicrographs to quantify ZENK immunoreactivity. Scale bar, 1.5 mm. Credit: European Journal of Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15995

Earth’s magnetic field, generated by the flow of molten iron in the planet’s inner core, extends out into space and protects us from cosmic radiation emitted by the sun. It is also remarkably used by animals like salmon, sea turtles and migratory birds for navigation.

But how? And why? A new study from researchers at Western’s Advanced Facility for Avian Research (AFAR), home to the world’s first hypobaric climatic wind tunnel for bird flight, explores a brain region called cluster N that migratory birds use to perceive Earth’s magnetic field. The team has discovered the region is activated very flexibly, meaning these birds have an ability to process, or ignore, geomagnetic information, just as you may attend to music when you are interested or tune it out when you are not.

The findings were published in the European Journal of Neuroscience.

Specifically, the research team led by psychology Ph.D. candidate Madeleine Brodbeck and AFAR co-director Scott MacDougall-Shackleton studied white-throated sparrows and found they were able to activate cluster N at night when they were motivated to migrate (to avoid prey and fly during cooler periods) and make it go dormant when they were resting at a stopover site.

This is the first demonstration of this brain region functioning in a North American bird species, as all prior research in this area was completed in Europe.

“This brain region is super important for activating the geomagnetic compass, especially for songbirds when they migrate at night,” said Brodbeck. “Almost all previous work on this specific brain function was done at one lab in Europe, so it was great to replicate it in a North American bird like the white-throated sparrow.”

Earth’s magnetic field, likely first investigated and identified by German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss in the 1830s, has long fascinated physicists, aerospace engineers and even science fiction writers like Frank Herbert and Stephen King. Brodbeck, a bird psychologist, is equally intrigued.

“Magnetic fields are really fun to think about because they’re invisible to humans. We can’t see them or sense them, but most animals perceive them in some way,” said Brodbeck. “For birds, using Earth’s magnetic field to know if they’re going towards a pole or towards the equator is obviously really helpful for orientation and migration. It’s incredible that they can activate their brain in this way, and we can’t.”

Understanding the physical mechanisms of how animals make their way around in the world is a fundamentally important question for researchers, says MacDougall-Shackleton, a psychology professor and cognitive neuroscientist.

“If we want to understand bird migration or how other animals move from one place to another, we need to know how they do it. And more importantly, we need to know what we’re doing, as humans, that might influence them,” said MacDougall-Shackleton.

“Birds don’t just use their magnetic compass. We know they pay attention to the sun and the stars as cues too. And we also know that things like lights at night, or windows in buildings, and all these things that we put in the world disrupt their migrations,” said MacDougall-Shackleton. “This type of basic research informs us and lets us know the full suite of ways that animals perceive the world when they’re migrating and what we as humans need to do to minimize our impact.”

More information:
Madeleine I. R. Brodbeck et al, Neuronal activation in the geomagnetic responsive region Cluster N covaries with nocturnal migratory restlessness in white‐throated sparrows ( Zonotrichia albicollis ), European Journal of Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15995

Provided by
University of Western Ontario

Citation:
Bird brains can flick switch to perceive Earth’s magnetic field   (2023, May 25)
retrieved 25 May 2023
from https://phys.org/news/2023-05-bird-brains-flick-earth-magnetic.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Related Posts

Switch

Ethernet Switch Market is All Set to Reach $26.1 Billion by 2031

May 31, 2023
Switch

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez explains switch of system that changed season

May 30, 2023
Switch

Curon 1950 heading to Switch next week

May 30, 2023
Switch

Ut Readies To Switch From Physical Files To E-office | Chandigarh News

May 30, 2023
Switch

Gamers rush to buy $200 Nintendo Switch now scanning at checkout for dozens less

May 29, 2023
Switch

Fans Are Worried About Mortal Kombat 1’s Switch Port

May 29, 2023
Load More
Next Post

PlayStation Project Q: all the burning questions about Sony’s handheld

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Esports News

Player Development, Strategy Analysis, and Fan Engagement

May 31, 2023

North Carolina Moving on Legalizing Esports, Online Sports Betting

May 30, 2023

Disguised Toast shares his Esports venture will lose nearly $1 million this year – ESports

May 30, 2023

High school gamers compete in Hardrocker Esports league

May 30, 2023

PC Games

Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean announced for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

May 31, 2023

Player Development, Strategy Analysis, and Fan Engagement

May 31, 2023

WrestleQuest launches on August 8 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

May 31, 2023

A universally loved PS5 original is finally making its way to PC this July

May 31, 2023
No Result
View All Result

Categories

  • Esports News
  • Game News
  • Mobile
  • PC Games
  • PS4
  • PS5 News
  • Switch
  • Uncategorized
  • Wii U
  • XBox 360
  • XBox One
  • Xbox Series X

PS4

Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean announced for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

May 31, 2023

Wii U

Last Week’s Nintendo 3DS System Update 11.17.0-50 Patched Most Modern Exploits

May 31, 2023

42 video game industry statistics 2023

May 30, 2023

Recent News

Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean announced for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

May 31, 2023

Player Development, Strategy Analysis, and Fan Engagement

May 31, 2023
  • Home
  • Shop
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Contact us

© 2022 GameNewsUSA

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Esports
  • PC Games
  • PS4
  • PS5
  • Switch
  • Wii U
  • XBox 360
  • XBox One
  • Xbox Series X
  • Mobile
  • Game News

© 2022 GameNewsUSA