Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
While many properties of the magnetic compass of migratory birds are satisfactory explained within the chemical model of magnetoreception, its extreme sensitivity to radiofrequency magnetic fields remains a mystery. Apparently, this difficulty could be overcome if the magnetoreceptor model were augmented with a magnetite nanoparticle, which would amplify the magnetic field at the position of the magneto-sensitive cryptochrome molecule. However, comparison of the radio-frequency power used in the experiment with intrinsic magnetization noise of such a particle, estimated from the theory of fluctuations, shows that the required sensitivity cannot be reached with realistic parameters of iron-oxide nanocrystals.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e0173887 |
Journal | PLoS ONE |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Mar 2017 |
ID: 39909004