ArticleeNeuro
Transduction of the Geomagnetic Field as Evidenced from alpha-Band Activity in the Human Brain.
Article in eNeuro. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 148 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biological and health-related effects of weak static magnetic fields (≤ 1 mT) in humans and vertebrates: A systematic review.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Exploring the mechanisms of biofield therapy through joint electrophysiological recordings in humans and mice.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Delayed Correlations Between Geomagnetic Activity and Human EEG Alpha and Theta Oscillations: Evidence from Archival and Experimental Data.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Spatial Cognition in the Field: A New Approach Using the Smartphone's Compass Sensors and Navigation Apps.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Redefinition of EEG frequency bands: a fractal model inspired by Blagg's Titius-Bode law.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2026Article
- DNA as a quantum system in evolution.PloS one · 2026Article
- Quantum Effects in Evolution: Terrestrial Fine-Tuning of Magnetic Parameters.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2026Article
- Effects of seasonal factors on brain function: Systematic review and future perspectives.iScience · 2025Article
- Human Responses to Magnetic and Hypomagnetic Fields: Available Evidence and Potential Risks for Deep Space Travel.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Birds may represent a useful animal model for studying human mental disorders.Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2025Review
- Exploratory Study on the Improvement of Jump Performance Through Exposure to Schumann Frequencies.Cureus · 2025Article
- Magnetite particle size and spatial distribution may modulate neural oscillation in the human brain.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Magnetic sense-dependent probabilistic decision-making in humans.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- The proliferation rates of HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma cells can be accelerated or inhibited by weak static and extremely low frequency magnetic fields.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Frequency-Dependent Antioxidant Responses in HT-1080 Human Fibrosarcoma Cells Exposed to Weak Radio Frequency Fields.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Cellular and Molecular Effects of Magnetic Fields.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- On the evolutionary trail of MagRs.Zoological research · 2024Article
- Review
- Modulation of calcium signaling and metabolic pathways in endothelial cells with magnetic fields.Nanoscale advances · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Magnetoreception, the perception of the geomagnetic field, is a sensory modality well-established across all major groups of vertebrates and some invertebrates, but its presence in humans has been tested rarely, yielding inconclusive results. We report here a strong, specific human brain response to ecologically-relevant rotations of Earth-strength magnetic fields. Following geomagnetic stimulation, a drop in amplitude of electroencephalography (EEG) alpha-oscillations (8-13 Hz) occurred in a repeatable manner. Termed alpha-event-related desynchronization (alpha-ERD), such a response has been associated previously with sensory and cognitive processing of external stimuli including vision, auditory and somatosensory cues. Alpha-ERD in response to the geomagnetic field was triggered only by horizontal rotations when the static vertical magnetic field was directed downwards, as it is in the Northern Hemisphere; no brain responses were elicited by the same horizontal rotations when the static vertical component was directed upwards. This implicates a biological response tuned to the ecology of the local human population, rather than a generic physical effect. Biophysical tests showed that the neural response was sensitive to static components of the magnetic field. This rules out all forms of electrical induction (including artifacts from the electrodes) which are determined solely on dynamic components of the field. The neural response was also sensitive to the polarity of the magnetic field. This rules out free-radical "quantum compass" mechanisms like the cryptochrome hypothesis, which can detect only axial alignment. Ferromagnetism remains a viable biophysical mechanism for sensory transduction and provides a basis to start the behavioral exploration of human magnetoreception.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.