How Pigeons And Other Animals Sense Magnetic Fields

How do homing pigeons navigate? They have a special ability to sense magnetic fields. As readers learn about this impressive adaptation, they’re introduced to important science curriculum topics in a fresh, engaging way. Readers explore fun facts about pigeons and other animals that can also detect magnetic fields, including honeybees. Colorful photographs of these animals and a helpful graphic organizer are included to enhance the reading experience. With each turn of the page, readers will gain a new appreciation for pigeons, honeybees, and other animals that have their own built-in compass.

How do homing pigeons navigate? They have a special ability to sense magnetic fields. As readers learn about this impressive adaptation, they’re introduced to important science curriculum topics in a fresh, engaging way. Readers explore fun facts about pigeons and other animals that can also detect magnetic fields, including honeybees. Colorful photographs of these animals and a helpful graphic organizer are included to enhance the reading experience. With each turn of the page, readers will gain a new appreciation for pigeons, honeybees, and other animals that have their own built-in compass.

The mystery of how migrating animals find their way over unfamiliar terrain has intrigued people for centuries, and has been the focus of productive research in the biological sci ences for several decades. Whether or not the earth's magnetic field had anything to do with their navigational abilities has sufaced and been dismissed several times, beginning at least in the mid to late 1800s. This topic generally remained out of the mainstream of scientific research for two reasons: (1) The apparent irreproducibility of many of the be havioral experiments which were supposed to demonstrate the existence of the magnetic sense; and (2) Perceived theoretical difficulties which were encountered when biophysi cists tried to understand how such a sensory system might operate. However, during the mid to late 1960s as the science of ethology (animal behavior) grew, it became clear from studies on bees and birds that the geomagnetic field is used under a variety of conditions. As more and more organisms were found to have similar abilities, the problem shifted back to the question as to the basis of this perception. Of the various schemes for trans ducing the geomagnetic field to the nervous system which have been proposed, the hy pothesis of magnetite-based magnetoreception discussed at length in this volume has per haps the best potential for explaining a wide range of these effects, even though this link is as yet clear only in the case of magnetotactic bacteria.

Biological systems are an emerging discipline that may provide integrative tools by assembling the hierarchy of interactions among genes, proteins and molecular networks involved in sensory systems. The aim of this volume is to provide a picture, as complete as possible, of the current state of knowledge of sensory systems in nature. The presentation in this book lies at the intersection of evolutionary biology, cell and molecular biology, physiology and genetics. Sensing in Nature is written by a distinguished panel of specialists and is intended to be read by biologists, students, scientific investigators and the medical community.

All cats—from mountain lions to housecats—have amazing night vision. Why do they need it, and what adaptations in their eyes make it possible? Readers find the answers to these questions as they explore the science behind cats’ superpowered night vision. They also discover other animals that can see well in darkness, such as owls and giant squids. Fun facts about these animals and a detailed graphic organizer touch on a variety of science curriculum topics, and colorful pictures make learning about these topics engaging for readers.

How do dolphins catch fish in murky water? Why do moths drink from puddles? How do birds' eggs breathe? How do animals work? In this revised and updated edition of the acclaimed text Animal Physiology, the answers are revealed. In clear and stimulating style, Knut Schmidt-Nielsen introduces and develops the fundamental principles of animal physiology according to major environmental features - oxygen, food and energy, temperature, and water. The structure of the book is unchanged from the previous edition, but every chapter has been updated to take into account recent developments, with numerous new references and figures. Animal Physiology is suitable as a text for undergraduate and beginning graduate courses in physiology. As with previous editions, students, teachers as well as researchers will find this book a valuable and enjoyable companion to course work and research.

This book explores the strikingly similar ways in which information is encoded in nonverbal man-made signals (e.g., traffic lights and tornado sirens) and animal-evolved signals (e.g., color patterns and vocalizations). The book also considers some coding principles for reducing certain unwanted redundancies and explains how desirable redundancies enhance communication reliability. Jack Hailman believes this work pioneers several aspects of analyzing human and animal communication. The book is the first to survey man-made signals as a class. It is also the first to compare such human-devised systems with signaling in animals by showing the highly similar ways in which the two encode information. A third innovation is generalizing principles of quantitative information theory to apply to a broad range of signaling systems. Finally, another first is distinguishing among types of redundancy and their separation into unwanted and desirable categories. This remarkably novel book will be of interest to a wide readership. Appealing not only to specialists in semiotics, animal behavior, psychology, and allied fields but also to general readers, it serves as an introduction to animal signaling and to an important class of human communication.

Electricity and Magnetism (E&M) underlies many lifesaving medical devices, such as magnetic resonance imaging scanners, neural stimulators, and heart pacemakers. But E&M also attracts its share of bogus health claims, such as biomagnetic therapy. How do you separate the good from the bad? Sometimes it’s not easy: experiments are prone to artifacts, theories are limited by assumptions, and clinical trials can result in ambiguities. In this book, the author separates the wheat from the chaff, showing which applications of E&M are bogus and which are not. This book takes the reader on a tour through a range of fascinating phenomena, from effects that are constant in time at one extreme, such as transcranial direct current stimulation of the brain, to the millimeter-wave whole-body scanners which are familiar to frequent flyers at the other. Along the way, the author looks in depth at the dispute about power line magnetic fields and leukemia, a case study in what can go wrong when dubious claims inflame unjustified fears. The debate about cell phones and brain cancer still rages today, particularly for the microwave frequencies encountered with new 5G technology. Recently, the so-called Havana Syndrome has been attributed to microwave weapons, but the underlying biophysics of such weapons is unclear. For all these encounters with electricity and magnetism, the author, an eminent biophysicist, uses science and evidence to sort out fact from fantasy. This book is aimed at general readers who want to make sense of the mysterious and often controversial ways in which E&M interacts with the human body. It is also ideal for students and professionals in bioscience and health-related fields who want to learn more without getting overwhelmed by theory.