Mice sense Moon and Sun
Abstract
Life on earth has always been exposed to the fluctuating Earth’s magnetic field, but a magnetic sense affecting behavior has been debated for mammals. We here report that mice, kept under constant laboratory conditions, showed fluctuations in spontaneous behavioral activity with a periodicity of ∼14 and ∼28 days. This was confirmed in nine cohorts from four facilities on two continents, covering 3 to 41 months. Such oscillations were also maintained in brain Bmal1 knockout mice lacking circadian rhythms, suggesting independence of the circadian clock. The behavioral activity peaked around full and new Moon, and showed a strong alignment with the periodic geomagnetic fluctuations originating in the Earth’s iono- and magnetosphere that are modulated by solar rotation and the orbital motion of the Moon. In the ultradian range, this alignment persisted in CRY1/2 knockout mice, suggesting that solar–lunar-driven geomagnetic fluctuations can modulate behavior rhythms independently of CRY1/2.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a preprint, done in animal, not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Understanding the factors influencing fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) damage in African smallholder maize fields and quantifying its impact on yield. A case study in Eastern Zimbabwe
- Alarming situation of emerging H5 and H7 avian influenza and effective control strategies
- Livestock and food security: vulnerability to population growth and climate change
- Atmosphere–ocean oxygen and productivity dynamics during early animal radiations
- Characterization of the global distribution and diversified plasmid reservoirs of the colistin resistance gene mcr-9
- The global seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in pigs: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.