Animals' 'Sixth Sense' Is Inherited... What About Humans?

Starvation in Drosophila Induces Self-Awareness Expression
Parental Self-Awareness Inherited by Offspring

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] It has been revealed by a domestic research team that the ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field, considered a representative sixth sense in animals (magnetic sense), is inherited. The research results show that the elusive magnetic sense operates through survival instincts and that this ability is passed down to offspring. The research team's next subject is humans.

The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on the 9th that the research team led by Kwon Seok Chae from the Department of Biological Education at Kyungpook National University identified that fruit flies imprint the Earth's magnetic field and use it to find food.

Hungry Fruit Flies Move Following the Earth's Magnetic Field

Between six and nine hours after spawning, fruit flies imprinted with the 'Daegu magnetic field' during the egg stage moved in the direction of the Daegu magnetic field when subjected to about 30 hours of fasting after becoming adults.

The research team discovered that the magnetic sense of fruit flies occurs under specific conditions.

The team exposed fruit fly eggs, about 6 to 9 hours after laying, to the Earth's magnetic field. After the flies matured into adults, they were starved for about 30 hours, and the fruit flies moved in the same direction as the magnetic field they were exposed to during the egg stage.

However, fruit flies that imprinted the Earth's magnetic field during the egg stage but were not starved, or were placed in different magnetic fields (Vancouver magnetic field, Madrid magnetic field), did not exhibit magnetic sense.

Additionally, the researchers found that the magnetic sense of fruit flies is inherited. The imprinting behavior of the parent generation was observed in offspring that had not been exposed to a specific Earth's magnetic field. Notably, the magnetic sense was expressed only in offspring born from males and females that had imprinted the magnetic sense.

Magnetic Sense of Fruit Flies Is Inherited

The period during which fruit flies imprint the Earth's magnetic field is limited to the egg stage (* marked), which occurs six to nine hours after laying.

The research team expects this study to provide a breakthrough in the development of magnetic sense research that has continued for over 50 years. It is currently known that about 60 species of living organisms can detect the Earth's magnetic field. However, it has not been clearly understood at which specific period in an animal's life the Earth's magnetic field is remembered for survival, or whether imprinting information is inherited by offspring.

The research team stated, "This study, which observed fruit flies for the past seven years to identify magnetic imprinting behavior, is not yet a universal phenomenon applicable to all animals, but it can be used as basic research data for higher animals in the future. We plan to conduct in-depth research on the imprinting mechanism of the Earth's magnetic field and explore whether humans also imprint and utilize the Earth's magnetic field."

Meanwhile, this research was conducted with support from the Basic Research Program (Mid-career Research) promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea. The research results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on December 30, 2019.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.