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"Magnetic Cells" Isolated For First Time

Posted by Unknown on from the designer-babies-with-builtin-compasses dept.

sciencehabit writes "For the first time, researchers have isolated magnetic cells in an animal. The cells--found in this case in rainbow trout--may help the fish respond to Earth's magnetic fields, allowing it to find its way home after spending 3 years at sea and traveling up to 300 kilometers away. The advance may help researchers get to the root of magnetic sensing in a variety of creatures, including birds."

14 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. In Humans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    My brother-in-law, Big Ed, has a metal plate in his head from when he was kicked by a mule, and he can tell the difference between Miller and Miller Light without looking at the labels. Also he has a magnetic memory.

    1. Re:In Humans by Cosgrach · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, there is no difference between Miller and Miller Light - they both taste like piss. Or, at least what I would imagine piss to taste like.

      --
      Why is it that most of the people that I encounter seem to have been shat from the Sphincter of Mediocrity?
    2. Re:In Humans by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

      My brother-in-law, Big Ed, has a metal plate in his head from when he was kicked by a mule

      That's nothing. I've got an uncle with a wooden leg and an aunt with a cedar chest.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:In Humans by socceroos · · Score: 2, Funny

      woodn't you like to know.

  2. What about Cryptochrome? by slew · · Score: 2

    I thought they figured this stuff out already for birds...
    Some references here and here...

    1. Re:What about Cryptochrome? by ljw1004 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Your second link says "Despite decades of study, the physical basis of the avian magnetic sense remains elusive". It goes on to say that one hypothesis is magnetite, and another hypothesis is the generation of radical pairs inside cryptochrome, but this wasn't confirmed since no atomic-resolution structure of cryptochrome has yet been produced.

      The article says that individual cells have been isolated which operate on magnetite. So it looks like it (1) is the first time there's been an actual confirmed result, and (2) it contradicts the cryptochrome hypothesis.

      But I know nothing about this field. I'm merely reading the linked articles.

  3. Re:Magnetic monopoles! by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I told you we would find them!

    Usually crashing into the walls around the clinic I went for MRI scans.

    The clinic had landscaped brush around the building to keep birds for hitting the walls and windows.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  4. Get rich quick! by cervesaebraciator · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think I'll patent magnetic flies and lures to better attract trout. Of course, it doesn't work that way but the point is it can be marketed as though it does.

  5. I could have told them that. by trout007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We trouts have an excellent sense of direction.

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    1. Re:I could have told them that. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes, but how many of them have a license to gill?

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  6. Re:They're called by Solandri · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It gets worse. The taxonomy of the salmonids was based on morphology in the centuries before DNA testing. When the DNA was actually tested, ichthyologists had a lot of egg on their faces. Not only did they find that the steelhead and rainbow trout were the same species, it turned out the rainbow trout - arguably the archetypical trout - is actually a salmon. It also turned out the Atlantic salmon (the most common species of "farmed salmon") was a trout, not a salmon.

    The rainbow trout's genus was quietly changed from Salmo to Oncorhynchus, placing it with the other salmons. Several trout (including the ubiquitous lake trout) turned out to be char, genus Salvelinus.

  7. What's the catch? by Vegemeister · · Score: 2

    How was this difficult? I mean, wouldn't it just be:

    1. Puree
    2. Dredge with magnet

    1. Re:What's the catch? by gman003 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Because the cells are far too weak a magnet for that to work. Any magnet strong enough to pull out the magnetic cells will be strong enough to move *any* water-containing cell.

      From reading TFA, it seems they did this by placing samples under a microscope, then slowly rotating a strong magnet beneath it. The magnetic cells rotated with the magnet; the non-magnetic cells did not.

  8. The human male has magnetic cells too. by Kaz+Kylheku · · Score: 3, Funny

    They are located in the dermis of the upper lip and produce a feature called "moustache".

    This produces an irresistible magnetic attraction in the opposite sex.