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written by
Derek Muller
In this 14-minute video, physics education researcher Derek Muller climbs inside a modified Faraday cage to let scientists at CalTech measure his ability to detect rotations of geomagnetic fields. The team of scientists had found in previous research that some human brains can pick up on these rotations when they are placed in environments with very little visual or auditory stimuli. Magnetoreception is a well-documented sensory ability among bacteria, protozoans, bees, turtles, homing pigeons, salmon, rats, whales, and cats. The CalTech research team has discovered that humans can also pick up magnetic field rotations, as evidenced "by drops in alpha wave power" following a change in field direction. We humans seem to have lost much of our capability to sense magnetic field, but remnants of this sensory ability are still detectable.
See Related Materials for a link to the full research paper published in 2018 in the periodical eNeuro.
Next Generation Science StandardsDisciplinary Core Ideas (K-12)
Types of Interactions (PS2.B)
Information Processing (LS1.D)
NGSS Nature of Science Standards (K-12)
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![]() @misc{
Author = "Derek Muller",
Title = {Veritasium: Can Humans Sense Magnetic Fields?},
Volume = {2025},
Number = {1 May 2025},
Month = {March 18, 2018},
Year = {2018}
}
![]() %A Derek Muller %T Veritasium: Can Humans Sense Magnetic Fields? %D March 18, 2018 %U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg3pza4y2ws&t=20s %O text/html ![]() %0 Electronic Source %A Muller, Derek %D March 18, 2018 %T Veritasium: Can Humans Sense Magnetic Fields? %V 2025 %N 1 May 2025 %8 March 18, 2018 %9 text/html %U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg3pza4y2ws&t=20s Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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References
Transduction of the Geomagnetic Field as Evidence from Alpha-band Activity in the Human Brain
Experiment described in the video was part of research done by CalTech University relation by Caroline HallKnow of another related resource? Login to relate this resource to it. |
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Transduction of the Geomagnetic Field as Evidence from Alpha-band Activity in the Human Brain Similar Materials |