Journal ArticleDOI
The physics and neurobiology of magnetoreception
Sönke Johnsen,Kenneth J. Lohmann +1 more
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
Despite recent advances, magnetoreceptors have not been identified with certainty in any animal, and the mode of transduction for the magnetic sense remains unknown.Abstract:
Diverse animals can detect magnetic fields but little is known about how they do so. Three main hypotheses of magnetic field perception have been proposed. Electrosensitive marine fish might detect the Earth's field through electromagnetic induction, but direct evidence that induction underlies magnetoreception in such fish has not been obtained. Studies in other animals have provided evidence that is consistent with two other mechanisms: biogenic magnetite and chemical reactions that are modulated by weak magnetic fields. Despite recent advances, however, magnetoreceptors have not been identified with certainty in any animal, and the mode of transduction for the magnetic sense remains unknown.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The habenula: from stress evasion to value-based decision-making
TL;DR: The habenula, a highly conserved structure in the brain, provides a fundamental mechanism for both survival and decision-making through its effects on neuromodulator systems, in particular the dopamine and serotonin systems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biomedical Nanomagnetics: A Spin Through Possibilities in Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapy
TL;DR: This paper discusses targeted drug delivery and triggered release, novel contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, cancer therapy using magnetic fluid hyperthermia, in vitro diagnostics and the emerging magnetic particle imaging technique that is quantitative and sensitive enough to compete with established imaging methods.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Radical-Pair Mechanism of Magnetoreception.
P. J. Hore,Henrik Mouritsen +1 more
TL;DR: This tutorial aims to explain the chemical and physical aspects of the radical-pair mechanism to biologists and the biological and chemical aspects to physicists and stimulate new interdisciplinary experimental and theoretical work that will shed much-needed additional light on this fascinating problem in sensory biology.
Journal ArticleDOI
Chemical magnetoreception in birds: The radical pair mechanism
TL;DR: A physical chemist's perspective on the “radical pair mechanism” of compass magnetoreception in birds is presented and the essential chemical requirements for detecting the direction of an Earth-strength ≈50 μT magnetic field are outlined and commented on the likelihood that these might be satisfied in a biologically plausible receptor.
Journal ArticleDOI
Vibrations, quanta and biology
TL;DR: In this paper, the dynamics of quantum dynamical networks in the presence of an environment and the fruitful interplay that the two may enter are discussed, and three biological phenomena whose understanding is held to require quantum mechanical processes, namely excitation and charge transfer in photosynthetic complexes, magneto-reception in birds and the olfactory sense, are discussed.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Melanopsin-Containing Retinal Ganglion Cells: Architecture, Projections, and Intrinsic Photosensitivity
TL;DR: It is shown that melanopsin is present in cell bodies, dendrites, and proximal axonal segments of a subset of rat RGCs, most likely the visual pigment of phototransducing R GCs that set the circadian clock and initiate other non–image-forming visual functions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Action Spectrum for Melatonin Regulation in Humans: Evidence for a Novel Circadian Photoreceptor
George C. Brainard,John P. Hanifin,Jeffrey M. Greeson,Brenda Byrne,Gena Glickman,Edward Gerner,Mark D. Rollag +6 more
TL;DR: The results suggest that, in humans, a single photopigment may be primarily responsible for melatonin suppression, and its peak absorbance appears to be distinct from that of rod and cone cellphotopigments for vision.
Journal ArticleDOI
Melanopsin-expressing ganglion cells in primate retina signal colour and irradiance and project to the LGN.
Dennis M. Dacey,Hsi-Wen Liao,Beth B. Peterson,Farrel R. Robinson,Vivianne C. Smith,Joel Pokorny,King Wai Yau,Paul D. Gamlin +7 more
TL;DR: An anatomically distinct population of ‘giant’, melanopsin-expressing ganglion cells in the primate retina that, in addition to being intrinsically photosensitive, are strongly activated by rods and cones, and display a rare, S-Off, (L + M)-On type of colour-opponent receptive field.
Journal ArticleDOI
Magnetosome formation in prokaryotes
TL;DR: Progress has been made in elucidating the molecular, biochemical, chemical and genetic bases of magnetosome formation and understanding how these unique intracellular organelles function.