Marvel Comic’s Magneto is the Master of Magnetism, a powerful mutant with the ability to generate and control magnetic fields.
But magnetism and magnetic fields aren’t just for comic book characters. It turns out that Magnetoreception helps certain creatures to locate themselves; they appear to navigate with magnetic fields.
There have been theories about it since the 1700s although many were debunked or at the very least viewed with scepticism.
However, over the last half century it has drawn more attention. A pioneering study in 1972 demonstrated that European robins respond to magnetic cues. Since then the list of animals with magnetic sense has grown from tiny song birds and sea turtles, to include every vertebrate category as well as certain insects and crustaceans.
The Earth’s magnetic field varies in intensity across the surface, being weakest at the equator and strongest at the poles. Some may use it to orientate, whilst others use it for migration and homing, alongside other sensory cues.
One theory says animals have an intracellular compass, whilst another suggests chemical reactions, influenced by the geomagnetic field, produce the sense.
The evidence for a magnetic sense is mostly behavioural; researchers have yet to find receptors. Cells could be located anywhere in the body since magnetic fields pass freely through tissue.