{"id":239005,"date":"2026-07-04T20:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=239005"},"modified":"2026-07-04T20:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:24:19","slug":"pigeons-use-their-livers-to-sense-earths-magnetic-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/pigeons-use-their-livers-to-sense-earths-magnetic-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Pigeons use their livers to sense Earth\u2019s magnetic field"},"content":{"rendered":"

Special immune cells may be one piece of their internal compass.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For decades, scientists have known that Earth\u2019s magnetic field helps migratory birds and homing pigeons navigate. Just how our feathered friends sense the invisible sphere around the Earth, however, has been less clear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At least part of the answer appears to be hiding inside a surprising organ. Immune cells inside pigeon livers called macrophages are sensitive to the planet\u2019s magnetic field. These cells function like an internal compass, according to a recent study published in the journal Science<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Macrophages destroy old red blood cells, which makes them accumulate iron. The iron makes the macrophages\u00a0 superparamagnetic, a kind of magnetism that takes place in particular nanoparticles. The nanoparticles can then be magnetized if a magnetic field is applied to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen pigeons fly, the nanoparticles align with the magnetic field and become \u2018magnetized\u2019<\/em>,\u201d Clivia Lisowski, a co-author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher in Immunology at the University of Bonn, tells Popular Science<\/em>. \u201cLike that, pigeons can sense Earth\u2019s magnetic field<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Electron microscopy image of pigeon liver tissue shows hepatic macrophage (blue) in contact with nerve fibre (yellow), which enables them to transmit (\u201cmagnetic\u201d) information to the pigeon brain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To understand how these particles help the pigeons navigate, Lisowski and her team tracked down where magnetic cells are in pigeons\u2019 bodies. Because the liver and spleen store significant quantities of iron, researchers thought these might be good candidate organs. The liver had a significantly stronger magnetic response than any of the other tissues in the study, according to study co-author Ulf Wiedwald, an expert in nanoscience at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.<\/p>\n

From there they homed in on macrophages, and put these important immune cells to the test. They studied pigeons that were trained to fly back to their aviary in Konstanz, Germany, from over 12.4 miles away. Pigeons whose macrophages had been removed got lost when the weather was overcast. But when the sun was out, the pigeons reached the aviary, probably with the aid of solar cues.<\/p>\n

The findings show how the birds employ magnetic sensing to find their way, as well as the sun\u2019s orientation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study has implications for both the immune research landscape as well as for research on animal navigation or magnetoreception, respectively. For animal navigation it\u2019s a new concept of how animals sense\/perceive Earth\u2019s magnetic field<\/em>,\u201d Lisowski says. \u201cWe think that this ferrimagnetic mechanism can actually explain how birds migrating at night, or sharks or bats or other animals migrating in dark environments can perceive Earth\u00b4s magnetic field<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team also found that the iron-rich macrophages are close to nerve fibre, indicating that magnetic information can get to the brain via this route. Ultimately, this shows how important interdisciplinary research, involving immunologists, behavioural biologists, and physicists, carries significance for more than just birds.<\/p>\n

As for the immune system, Lisowski explains that to accomplish its different functions \u2013 such as defending our bodies from pathogens and healing wounds \u2013 it has to sense the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur finding that the immune system can also sense the Earth\u2019s magnetic field is a complete new layer in this concept of \u2018immuno-sensation\u2019 and opens the door to new research<\/em>,\u201d Lisowski explains.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nJuly 4, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special immune cells may be one piece of their internal compass. For decades, scientists have known that Earth\u2019s magnetic field helps migratory birds and homing pigeons navigate. Just how our feathered friends sense the invisible sphere around the Earth, however, has been less clear. At least part of the answer appears to be hiding inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1364],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239012,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239005\/revisions\/239012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}