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Scientists have identified a molecule that fruit flies need to sense magnetic fields. It is the first time the specific molecule has been linked conclusively to magnetic sensitivity in any animal, the researchers report in a July 20 online Nature article.
The molecule, cryptochrome, acts as a light receptor and is sensitive to blue and ultraviolet light.
“This is a huge finding. It really says that cryptochrome, which is linked to animals’ circadian clock, is also involved in a living animal’s response to magnetic fields,” says study coauthor Steven M. Reppert, a neurobiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.