The Sixth Sense of Plants
- From: Bossavit <bossavit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:32:52 +0000 (UTC)
Can anyone here give a knowledgeable appreciation of
this Nature's paper?
"Resonance effects indicate a radical-pair mechanism
for avian magnetic compass"
http://www.physics.uci.edu/~tritz/Publications/RITZ2004.pdf
The connection with plants? Well, birds and plants
have blue-light receptors called cryptochromes, whose
mechanisms could be affected by magnetic fields. As
shown in recent experiments, if one believes this source,
http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=26320
relatively weak ambient magnetic fields (5 gauss) would influence
the function of cryptochromes in plants. Since on the other
hand "it's well known" that migrating birds evolved a magnetic
compass, the latter would work thanks to their retina's
cryptochromes. Rather than my paraphrasing, read the original press elease there,
http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/664.htm?debut=16
A tall story? Or serious science?
.
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