Pigeons sense magnetic fields by detecting tiny electrical currents in their inner ears, a study suggests. Plus, hear from the fraught final hours of COP30 and meet the researchers who do science with excrement.
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Credit: Suriya Silsaksom/Alamy
Pigeons (Columba livia) seem to be able to sense magnetic fields by detecting tiny electrical currents in their inner ears. Researchers performed advanced brain mapping as well single-cell RNA sequencing of pigeon inner-ear cells. Both lines of evidence point to the inner ear as the birds’ ‘magnetoreception’ organ. Such an organ gives the birds an ‘inner compass’ that could help to explain their navigational nous over long distances. “This is probably the clearest demonstration of the neural pathways responsible for magnetic processing in any animal,” says sensory biology researcher Eric Warrant.
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Science paper
Neurotechnology developed Paradromics has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to begin a long-term clinical trial of its brain-computer interface (BCI). The company — a rival to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Neuralink — will implant its device in two volunteers who were left unable to speak owing to neurological diseases and injuries. The trial aims to determine whether the device is safe, and can restore a person’s ability to communicate with real-time speech — the first BCI clinical trial to formally target synthetic-voice generation.
Nature | 5 min read
On the last scheduled day of the UN climate conference (COP30), dozens of nations have committed to block any agreement that does not include a plan for how to transition away from fossil fuels, as agreed at COP28 in 2023. But the latest draft text from the conference contains no mention of such a phase-out. A group that includes petrostates such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are opposed to ending the fossil fuel era. The Brazilian president of COP30, André Corrêa do Lago, urged negotiators to channel the spirit of consensus that helped them to create the transformational Paris Agreement at COP21. “If we don’t strengthen this, everybody will lose.”
BBC | 7 min read
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