Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Many migratory birds use Earth's magnetic field as a compass, but some can also use information from that field to determine more or less where they are on a mental map.
Eurasian reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) appear to calculate their geographical position by drawing data from different distances and angles between magnetic fields and the Earth's shape. The findings suggest that the birds use magnetic information as a sort of "GPS" that tells them not only where to go, but where they are initially, says Richard Holland at Bangor University in the UK.
“When we travel, we have a map – which tells us where we are – and we have a compass, which tells us which way to go to reach our destination,” he says. “We don’t think birds have quite this level of accuracy or degree of knowledge of the whole Earth. Even so, they see how magnetic cues change as they move along their normal path – or even if they’re far displaced from that path.”
Scientists have known for decades that migratory birds rely on cues from the sun, the stars and Earth’s magnetic field to determine which direction to head towards. But figuring out direction using a compass is markedly different from knowing where in the world they are, and scientists still debate about whether – and how – birds figure out their current map position.
[...] However, we still don’t fully understand the neurological mechanisms that enable birds to sense these aspects of Earth’s magnetic field.
[...] While the research confirms reed warblers rely on these magnetic fields for positioning, it doesn’t mean that all birds do so, he adds. “Not all birds work the same way.”
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1363
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 19, @02:19PM
Compass needles are basically 2D readouts, but 3 of the dimensions in a basic 9DOF pose sensor are magnetic vectors. That 3rd dimension that doesn't show on an ordinary compass is the angle of declination, and it varies roughly with latitude.
So, yeah, if you take sunrise / sunset bearings in combination with a 3D magnetic vector and calendar information, that should be enough to get rough coordinates translatable to latitude / longitude.
Birds also don't have metallic PCBs and wires carrying currents and steel cages to distort their local magnetic fields, so they should be able to integrate a much more accurate magnetic vector than most homebrew electronic / vehicle based projects. All processed through an evolved analog neural network...
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19, @03:39PM (2 children)
This is news? It's been known for literally a fuck ton of years. For those of you that need the conversion is that it's two and a half Library of Congress's...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 19, @04:47PM
>figuring out direction using a compass is markedly different from knowing where in the world they are
The direct sensor -> GPS coordinate (equivalent) capability is what is being proposed as novel here. Past proposals have been more handwaving at more complex systems like terrain recognition, etc.
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Tuesday November 19, @04:48PM
No, it hasn't. You have failed to read the full article. Admittedly an essential piece of the original story was omitted during the editing process.
They were able to convince the birds that they were 1000s of miles away from where they actually were by use of magnetic fields and faraday cages. The birds then started to fly off in completely the wrong direction. So not only does this sense give them direction, but it also functions like a GPS and tells them whereabouts on earth they are. That is new information.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.