GPS the robin? Scientists have known for decades that migratory birds rely on magnetic field of the Earth to "tune" their internal navigation tools that allow them to travel even thousands of kilometers in the right direction.
Devices we use on a daily basis produce noise - electromagnetic noise, which is not perceived by our own ears. But even the electromagnetic hum of electronics computers or AM radio signals may be enough to detune the internal GPS of migrating birds, the results of a new study reveal.
Scientists have known for decades that migratory birds are left in the Earth's magnetic field to "regulate" their internal navigation tools that allow them to travel even thousands of kilometers in the right direction. But the new study shows for the first time how people's dependence on the devices affects this inner compass by disorienting the birds.
Henrik Moourchen of the University of Oudenburg came to this finding almost randomly. Headquartered in the Danish countryside, the researcher has been studying for years the behavior of European rookies. Every year at the same time, his captive birds turned their bodies in the direction they would fly if they were free. When Moouritsen moved from the countryside to the city of Oldenburg, the red-haired men stopped looking in the right direction.
Experiments with changes in food, lighting, cages, etc. have not produced any results. Until a colleague of his investigator proposed to cover the wooden "house" of birds with aluminum plates. Indeed, red-haired men returned to their old habits, and Mooretsen began to see that the plates were a sound shield from the electromagnetic noise of the city's devices, the "echo", as he calls it.
“We found a very clear and repeatable effect of electromagnetic noise produced by electric equipment and which prevents a bird – in this case the European robin – from using its magnetic compass,” explained the biologist speaking to Washington Post.
But where does this "eagle" that disorientates the birds? Researchers are not entirely sure, though so far they have blocked mobile phone or wi-fi signals and suspect AM signals and electromagnetic fields of computers, printers, and even refrigerators.
