
People can sense Earth’s magnetic field, brain waves suggest - alexhornbake
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/people-can-sense-earth-magnetic-field-brain-waves-suggest
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Rooster61
Does this actually prove it's a "sense"? It stands to reason that magnetic
fields could subtly affect brainwaves, as brainwaves are electromagnetic in
nature, but does that indicate that the body actually does anything useful
with this perturbation?

They have well demonstrated that they affect the brain on some level, but I
think making the jump to call it a sense requires some actual effect on our
physiology or behavior that the body takes advantage of as a means to DO
something.

I'm inserting my own definition and understanding of what a sense is here, but
I'd wager there there aren't too many ways of defining a sense without somehow
including perception as a critical aspect. At least not any that people would
buy wholesale or would be easily demonstrated scientifically.

A counterexample to this would be ionizing radiation. Radiation is present in
our environment, we generally do not perceive it (at least not on any
conscious level, and excluding the sense of heat and visible light, both
frequencies along the electromagnetic spectrum), and it certainly has effects
on the body that are easily perceivable (tanning/sunburn, cancer, etc). Can we
sense it? I don't think many folks would argue that we can.

I also notice that the article uses quite a few weasel words, throwing
"suggests" and "hints" in to justify the title. Not fantastic journalism IMO.

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ncmncm
That defines good journalism.

Bald claims with insufficient evidence would be bad journalism.

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ncmncm
Cultures whose language requires absolute direction awareness ought to yield
individuals who can consciously identify changes in magnetic fields.

It seems like an obvious course of investigation. One wonders whether there
was any attempt to recruit such individuals. Not all of them live in
inaccessible places -- just most.

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Zenbit_UX
Aren't EEG caps full of wires and other metal components? If so, then this
study reads like an onion article.

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mpoteat
I imagine the machines are also quite loud, which would be sensory input. I
haven't read the paper, but I wonder how they handle that.

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ncmncm
No, they aren't. You might be thinking of MRI machines. Or bulldozers. Or
something.

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pokethetomato
If people can sense it, does that mean magnetic field changes can effect
people ?

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ncmncm
"Effect" meaning "bring about" ? That generally requires mating behavior.

Can it affect people? Evidently so. That is what you just read about.

