Electrosmog: Electronic signals may disrupt bird migration

[LuckyTheDog]

Electromagnetic noise from AM broadcast signals (or "electrosmog&quot could be interfering with the migratory flight paths of birds by disrupting the animals' "internal compass,” German researchers reported this week in the journal Nature.

"At first, I was highly skeptical that this could be the explanation. But if you have seemingly unlikely effects then the proof needs to be much stronger - and that is why we have done so many experiments over seven years and it has taken a long time before we were confident to come out with this to the public,” said lead researcher Professor Henrik Mouritsen from the University of Oldenburg in Germany, in an interview with BBC News.

Birds are capable of performing extraordinary acts of navigation, with some migrating half way around the world.

It is believed that the birds’ built-in magnetic compass, which senses the Earth's magnetic field, helps them accomplish this task.

MORE HERE: http://wonkynewsnerd.com/electronic-signals-may-disrupt-bird-migration/

[GeorgeGist]

1. ... evidence exists that they use the quantum phenomenon of electron spin to navigate.

Flying home with quantum physics

Quantum mechanics is usually associated with weird and counterintuitive phenomena we can't observe in real life. But it turns out that quantum processes can occur in living organisms, too, and with very concrete consequences. Some species of birds, for example, use quantum mechanics to navigate. And as Plus found out at a conference on quantum physics and the nature of reality, which took place in Oxford in September, studying these little creatures' quantum compass may help us achieve the holy grail of computer science: building a quantum computer.

http://plus.maths.org/content/learning-quantum-physics-birds?nlg=2

Which raises the question: Is a bird smarter than a Republican?

[LuckyTheDog]

2. That's cool

Evolution is amazing.