The Rotating Magnetocaloric Effect As a Potential Mechanism for Natural Magnetic Senses

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2019 Oct 2

PMID 31574085

Citations 1

Authors

A Martin Bell

Jacob T Robinson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Many animals are able to sense the earth's magnetic field, including varieties of arthropods and members of all major vertebrate groups. While the existence of this magnetic sense is widely accepted, the mechanism of action remains unknown. Building from recent work on synthetic magnetoreceptors, we propose a new model for natural magnetosensation based on the rotating magnetocaloric effect (RME), which predicts that heat generated by magnetic nanoparticles may allow animals to detect features of the earth's magnetic field. Using this model, we identify the conditions for the RME to produce physiological signals in response to the earth's magnetic field and suggest experiments to distinguish between candidate mechanisms of magnetoreception.

Citing Articles

Magnetocaloric materials with ultra-small magnetic nanoparticles working at room temperature.

Dudek M, Dudek K, Wolak W, Wojciechowski K, Grima J Sci Rep. 2019; 9(1):17607.

PMID: 31772197 PMC: 6879751. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-53617-0.

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