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In Praise Of Walking by Shane O’Mara
The new science of how we walk and why it’s good for us This is a snippet from the book, In Praise of Walking by Shane O’Mara, which examines the science behind one of the basic skills that defines us as human beings. Scientists are slowly working out how our sense of direction works. It’s…
Hippocampus by Simon Raggett
I was at a lecture on animal navigation at the Royal Society this week. Nothing world changing, but possibly some useful bits of background regarding navigation. This deals with the mammal brain, but given the similarities in behaviour between mammals and birds one can assume the birds might achieve some similar process. The important brain…
Intro This site takes you into the world where technology is trying to understand animal migration by using tags and a sophisticated satellite system to follow routes taken by animals. Up until now tags have often been very heavy, or at least too heavy for a lot of tiny birds that make huge migrations such…
Navigation without a compass
I believe that the ancient peoples “always knew” where they were going and many people today seem to just know where they are going or have a “sense of direction”. Tristan Gooley, has written a fascinating book called, “The Natural Navigator”, he covers many of the clues that help navigate, especially the position of the…
Magnetoreception – the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field
David Keays is one of the mega stars of animal navigation research and has spent a life time trying to work out how magnetism might work. Here is a summary of his latest work: Magnetoreception is the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, which is used for orientation and navigation. Behavioural experiments have shown…
The eels are back
Suddenly after years of decline the eels are back swimming up the rivers in the west coasts of Europe in their millions. We think that their arrival is the result of a truly remarkable journey from their breeding grounds in the Saragossa Sea off Bermuda. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_life_history for more history. There is also the Sustainable Eel Group www.sustainableeelgroup.com

