Human magnetic sixth sense breaks into mainstream science

After decades of research proved that critters across the animal kingdom on Earth can sense our planet's magnetic field, a well-known geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Joe Kirschvink, has presented the first repeatable and verifiable evidence that humans have an ability to detect and respond to Earth's magnetic field too.

Over the past decades, Prof. Kirschvink has originated several ideas aimed at increasing our understanding of how biological evolution has influenced, and has been influenced by, major events on the surface of the Earth. He won the Richard P. Feynman Prize for teaching excellence at Caltech, and the William Gilbert Award from the American Geophysical Union.

LINK

I find this to be fascinating and wonderful news. I have had no doubt that extrasensory perception is real based on my experiences. I understand why people would want definitive proof of such things. It's especially hard for people to relate if they have no extrasensory abilities.

If it were possible, I think a poll on the topic of extrasensory perception on this forum would be great. I would imagine people here would tend to have stronger extrasensory abilities than the average person.

If a person closes their eyes and turns around a few times, then tries to find the direction they feel most comfortable at, they have to note what direction that is. Repeating it will usually show they feel best in that direction. Mine is North. My son in laws is East. He just has to raise his left arm and point North.

I have known that this exists for many years. I have known that people's sense is not always the same for at least twenty five years. We did this when we were kids and I have been talking to people about this for many years and helped them to utilize this perception over the years. Just because we don't know something exists does not mean it does not exist.

Our whole direction system acclimates to this alignment with training and understanding. We get our sense of direction, but it isn't the same exact system for everyone because the starting point is different. This sense can be interfered with by coming into contact with magnetic abnomalys. Just like a compass.

Being a boy scout for many years I learned to use my senses for finding direction. I hunted and fished a lot, always having a compass when out in the woods.

When I got my Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, I lost much of the sense of direction but have recovered it somewhat now. Not enough that I can find my way around in a big city by just looking at a map anymore though. If I saw the map, noted the direction and the scale, I could find the general location of where I was heading automatically, right from inside the car. It was automatic. I lost automatic with the epilepsy which makes it harder. I think a lot of people lose this sense and it messes them up, it did me when I first lost it.

Just so you know, we have a lot more than just 5 Senses (:

a reply to: Profusion

Will this be like superpowers? Can I hone my newfound ability through practice?

Woe betide the first man I see with a compass. I will break his spirit! He will be lost!

a reply to: Profusion

i was part of an experment into human perception of magnetic feilds in 1987 , that was totally mainstream science

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: Profusion

i was part of an experment into human perception. of magnetic feilds in 1987 , that was totally mainstream science

Yeah -- I didn't think this wasn't mainstream science.

As I mentioned in the other thread on this subject (and, BTW, there IS a pre-existing thread on this subject HERE), there has been a lot of mainstream research into this, knowing that some birds use a magnetoreception sense to migrate. One of the ways a bird uses for this magnetic navigation sense is a chemical called cryptochrome that some birds have as part of their visual pathways:

A Visual Pathway Links Brain Structures Active during Magnetic Compass Orientation in Migratory Birds

The magnetic compass of migratory birds has been suggested to be light-dependent. Retinal cryptochrome-expressing neurons and a forebrain region, “Cluster N”, show high neuronal activity when night-migratory songbirds perform magnetic compass orientation. 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.

Science (mainstream science) has found that humans also have cryptochromes in their eyes that may be part of a magnetoreception sense.

Human cryptochrome exhibits light-dependent magnetosensitivity

Humans are not believed to have a magnetic sense, even though many animals use the Earth's magnetic field for orientation and navigation. One model of magnetosensing in animals proposes that geomagnetic fields are perceived by light-sensitive chemical reactions involving the flavoprotein cryptochrome (CRY). Here we show using a transgenic approach that human CRY2, which is heavily expressed in the retina, can function as a magnetosensor in the magnetoreception system of Drosophila and that it does so in a light-dependent manner. The results show that human CRY2 has the molecular capability to function as a light-sensitive magnetosensor and reopen an area of sensory biology that is ready for further exploration in humans.

a reply to: Profusion
Interesting topic, but skywatcher44 beat you to it:

Maverick scientist thinks he has discovered a magnetic sixth sense in humans

Joe Kirschvink with the California Institute for Technology reported that experiments he and colleagues have been conducting have shown reproducible changes in brainwaves of volunteers who sat in a magnetically controllable chamber.

Same research as mentioned in your link.

Exciting news , but also a bit old. I heard this news Somewhere in the 80's. From memory :
if i remember right there is magnetic material in the nose bridge ?, and Aboriginals were very good in detecting magnetic fields. After that a big bad debunker came discredited the researcher and the research turned out to be an hoax.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur
a reply to: Profusion
Interesting topic, but skywatcher44 beat you to it:

Maverick scientist thinks he has discovered a magnetic sixth sense in humans

Joe Kirschvink with the California Institute for Technology reported that experiments he and colleagues have been conducting have shown reproducible changes in brainwaves of volunteers who sat in a magnetically controllable chamber.

Same research as mentioned in your link.

Thread closed.