Cows Really Do Have a Magnetic Sixth Sense

Satellite images of cattle and deer herds suggest that low-frequency magnetic fields disrupt the tendency of four-legged animals to align their bodies with geomagnetic fields. When herds stand next to power lines, which emit a mild electromagnetic field, they point in different directions. In the absence of power lines, they point along a north-south axis. The findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, come from the same biologists who used Google Earth images to identify a bovine north-south tendency. Some commentators dismissed those results, or said they didn't necessarily indicate a magnetic sixth sense. "These findings constitute evidence for magnetic sensation in large mammals as well as evidence of an overt behavioral reaction to weak [extreme low-frequency magnetic fields] in vertebrates," write the researchers...Wired Science