________________________________
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John
Shinn
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 11:12 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Interesting Article
Interesting article on magnetic fields.
Cattle respond to magnetic fields from power lines
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science
Writer – Mon Mar 16, 5:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON – High-voltage power lines mess with animal magnetism.
Researchers, who reported last year that most cows and deer tend to orient
themselves in a north-south alignment, have now found that power lines can
disorient the animals.
When the power lines run east-west, that's the way grazing cattle tend
to
line up, researchers led by Hynek Burda and Sabine Begall of the faculty of
biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany report in Tuesday's
edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
They also found that cows and deer grazing under northeast-southwest or
northwest-southeast power lines faced in random directions.
The research team studied cows and deer using satellite and aerial
images.
In their report last August, Burda and colleagues suggested the
north-south
orientation was in response to the Earth's magnetic field.
The new study adds weight to the animals responding to magnetic effects,
since power lines also produce a magnetic field. And the effect was most
noticeable close to the power lines, declining as the magnetic field of the
electric lines was reduced by distance.
Wind and weather can also affect which ways cows choose to face, but
without
such factors about two-thirds of them tended to align north-south when away
>from power lines.
I wonder if the original study noticed if the cows were aligning true North,
or if they were following the angle of declination and aligning with magnetic
North?
I would be more inclined to suspect that cows aligned with some respect to
linear features of their local topography. As cows have not been selectively
bred for intelligence, they can be influenced by even a simple line painted on
the ground.
Ah hah, cows align with jet contrails; it's just that no researcher has looked
up. More research is needed! I smell a grant!
Ed Price
[email protected] <blocked::mailto:[email protected]> WB6WSN
NARTE Certified EMC Engineer
Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab
Cubic Defense Applications
San Diego, CA USA
858-505-2780
Military & Avionics EMC Is Our Specialty
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