尋找磁性第六感 科學家嘗試確定人類磁感知能力

Evidence of humanity's lost 'sixth sense' may have been found.

能夠證明人類擁有“第六感”的證據也許已經被找到了。

Joe Kirschvink, a researcher from the California Institute of Technology, claims to have confirmation that humans can subconsciously detect Earth's magnetic field.

喬·科臣雪夫斯基是來自加州理工大學的一名研究人員，他聲稱自己已經證實了人類能夠潛意識地感知到地球的磁場。

Using a Faraday cage and EEG monitor, Kirschvink observed reproducible changes in human alpha brain waves when adjustments were made to the magnetic field around them.

利用法拉第籠和腦電波監測儀器，科臣雪夫斯基發現，當對人體周圍的磁場做出調整時，實驗者的а腦波產生了重複性的變化。

'It's part of our evolutionary history,' said Kirschvink. 'Magnetoreception may be the primal sense.'

喬說道：“這是我們進化史的一部分。磁感可能是人類最初的感覺。”

The ability to sense Earth's magnetic field has been found in certain creatures such as bird, insects and other mammals that use the power for migration or orient to their surrounding environment.

某些特定的生物也能感受到地球磁場，例如鳥類、昆蟲和其他一些哺乳動物，它們利用這種能力來遷徙，或者對自己周圍的環境進行定位。

For decades, researchers has been studying this phenomenon in animals and discovered that dogs, foxes and bears also have the field-sensing molecule cryptochrome in their eyes – this work was published earlier this year.

數十年來，研究人員一直在研究動物身上的這種現象，他們發現狗、狐狸和熊的眼睛中都有磁場傳感分子隱花色素--該研究在今年早些時候被髮布。

Other experts say this 'sixth sense' harnesses its power from iron mineral and magnetite to act as 'compass needles', while others say it relies on protein in the retina called cryptochrome , reports Science magazine.

據《科學》雜誌報道，其他一些專家則表示，“第六感”來自於鐵礦和磁鐵礦，有點類似於“指南針”，而其他人則認爲“第六感”來源於視網膜中一種被稱爲隱花色素的蛋白質。

During the recent trial, Kirschvink and his team built a Faraday cage to test the ability in humans. This structure is a thin, aluminium box that blocks out any and all electromagnetic background noise using wire coils, called Merritt coils.

在最近的實驗中，喬和他的研究小組搭建了一個法拉第籠，以此來測試人類的磁場感應能力。這個裝置是一個由鋁製成的很薄的箱子，它使用了梅利特線圈，能夠阻擋一切電磁背景噪聲的干擾。

Participants sit in complete darkness, where they are only exposed to a pure magnetic field – no stimulus or interference is able to get in the enclosure.

實驗參與者們身處一個完全漆黑的地方，在那裏他們只能夠接觸到一個純粹的磁場--沒有其他的刺激或者干擾能夠進入實驗場中。

Kirschvink recruited 24 volunteers for his experiments, which he hooked up to EEG monitors in order to analyze their brain activity when exposed to a rotating magnetic field that mimics that of the Earth.

喬爲他的實驗招募了24名志願者。在試驗中，喬使用了腦電波監測儀器來分析參與者們的大腦活動。在實驗中，參與者們接觸到了一個模擬地球情況的旋轉磁場。

The team found that when the magnetic field was rotating clockwise, there was a drop in alpha waves. This event suggests that participants' were responding to and processing the magnetic field.

該研究小組發現，當磁場順時針旋轉的時候，參與者的а腦波出現了下降。研究結果最終顯示，參與者們能夠對磁場產生反應，並對磁場信息做出處理。

Besides this observation, Kirschvink found that the neural response was delayed a few hundred milliseconds – suggesting an active brain response, he said.

除了這一發現之外，喬還發現神經反應被延遲了幾百毫秒--他表示，這顯示了一個積極的大腦活動反應。

This may be linked to the notion that magnetic fields can influence 'electric currents in the brain that mimic an EEG signal'.

與此相關的一個觀點是，磁場可以影響“在大腦中模仿腦電波的電流”。

Kirschvink found a a similar response when the magnetic field was contorted on the floor of the box, but not when the magnetic field twisted upwards or rotated clockwise.

當磁場在箱子的底部被扭曲時，喬發現參與者們有類似的反應，但是當磁場向上或順時針旋轉扭曲時，就不能夠再觀測到這一現象了。