Scientists have observed for the first time in history how living cells react to an electromagnetic field

One of the most striking sixth senses among animals is the ability to detect and navigate magnetic fields in space (magnetoreception).

Until now, scientists have not been able to explain how this phenomenon works, but Japanese scientists have managed to take one more step towards solving. For the first time in history, they managed to observe how living cells react to magnetic fields.

Orientation by the magnetic field - the great riddle that they decided to solve

It is known that some animals such as birds, bats, eels, whales and, according to some studies, even humans, are perfectly oriented in a special way, feeling the Earth's magnetic field. How this mechanism works is not fully known, but there are a huge number of very different hypotheses.

So, according to the most common version, it's all about special chemical reactions that are induced in cells due to the so-called radical pair mechanism.

Simply put, if some molecules are able to be excited by the action of light, then the electrons will be able to actively move between the molecules. In this case, pairs of molecules with one electron in each can form. This pair is called radial.

So, if electrons in such pairs have the same spin states, then they will enter into chemical reactions slowly. If they are in different directions, the reactions will proceed much faster.

So the idea is that since electromagnetic fields are able to affect spin states electrons in molecules, they are also capable of causing chemical reactions that change the behavior animals.

Experimental progress and surprising results

Based on this theory, Japanese scientists at the University of Tokyo decided to investigate HeLa cells (commonly used cells for laboratory experiments). The decision was made to focus on the cellular molecules of the falvin, which fluoresce in blue light.

So, the scientific group proceeded to irradiate the selected cells with blue light in order to start the fluorescence process, and then they were exposed to a magnetic field with an interval of 4 seconds. Moreover, as soon as the magnetic field exerted an effect on the cells, the radiation intensity of the cells decreased by approximately 3.5%.

From the results obtained, the scientists concluded that the darkening process indicates the process of the mechanism of the radical pair. Thus, the magnetic field affects a huge number of radical pairs, forcing electrons acquire the same spin states and thus exclude them from the chemical process, thereby reducing glow.

At the same time, the strength of the magnetic field was comparable in strength to the strength of the magnet, which we usually hang on refrigerators. Of course, the Earth's magnetic field is significantly less than that used in the experiment, but how paradoxical it sounds scientists believe that much weaker magnets can facilitate the switching of the spin states of electrons in radical couples.

To confirm this fact, scientists will conduct a new series of experiments, and the engineers shared the results of this experiment on the pages of the journal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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