寻找磁性第六感 科学家尝试确定人类磁感知能力
Evidence of humanity's lost 'sixth sense' may have been found.
能够证明人类拥有“第六感”的证据也许已经被找到了。Joe Kirschvink, a researcher from the California Institute of Technology, claims to have confirmation that humans can subconsciously detect Earth's magnetic field.
乔·科臣雪夫斯基是来自加州理工大学的一名研究人员，他声称自己已经证实了人类能够潜意识地感知到地球的磁场。Using a Faraday cage and EEG monitor, Kirschvink observed reproducible changes in human alpha brain waves when adjustments were made to the magnetic field around them.
利用法拉第笼和脑电波监测仪器，科臣雪夫斯基发现，当对人体周围的磁场做出调整时，实验者的а脑波产生了重复性的变化。
'It's part of our evolutionary history,' said Kirschvink. 'Magnetoreception may be the primal sense.'
乔说道：“这是我们进化史的一部分。磁感可能是人类最初的感觉。”
The ability to sense Earth's magnetic field has been found in certain creatures such as bird, insects and other mammals that use the power for migration or orient to their surrounding environment.
某些特定的生物也能感受到地球磁场，例如鸟类、昆虫和其他一些哺乳动物，它们利用这种能力来迁徙，或者对自己周围的环境进行定位。For decades, researchers has been studying this phenomenon in animals and discovered that dogs, foxes and bears also have the field-sensing molecule cryptochrome in their eyes – this work was published earlier this year.
数十年来，研究人员一直在研究动物身上的这种现象，他们发现狗、狐狸和熊的眼睛中都有磁场传感分子隐花色素--该研究在今年早些时候被发布。Other experts say this 'sixth sense' harnesses its power from iron mineral and magnetite to act as 'compass needles', while others say it relies on protein in the retina called cryptochrome , reports Science magazine.
据《科学》杂志报道，其他一些专家则表示，“第六感”来自于铁矿和磁铁矿，有点类似于“指南针”，而其他人则认为“第六感”来源于视网膜中一种被称为隐花色素的蛋白质。During the recent trial, Kirschvink and his team built a Faraday cage to test the ability in humans. This structure is a thin, aluminium box that blocks out any and all electromagnetic background noise using wire coils, called Merritt coils.
在最近的实验中，乔和他的研究小组搭建了一个法拉第笼，以此来测试人类的磁场感应能力。这个装置是一个由铝制成的很薄的箱子，它使用了梅利特线圈，能够阻挡一切电磁背景噪声的干扰。Participants sit in complete darkness, where they are only exposed to a pure magnetic field – no stimulus or interference is able to get in the enclosure.
实验参与者们身处一个完全漆黑的地方，在那里他们只能够接触到一个纯粹的磁场--没有其他的刺激或者干扰能够进入实验场中。Kirschvink recruited 24 volunteers for his experiments, which he hooked up to EEG monitors in order to analyze their brain activity when exposed to a rotating magnetic field that mimics that of the Earth.
乔为他的实验招募了24名志愿者。在试验中，乔使用了脑电波监测仪器来分析参与者们的大脑活动。在实验中，参与者们接触到了一个模拟地球情况的旋转磁场。The team found that when the magnetic field was rotating clockwise, there was a drop in alpha waves. This event suggests that participants' were responding to and processing the magnetic field.
该研究小组发现，当磁场顺时针旋转的时候，参与者的а脑波出现了下降。研究结果最终显示，参与者们能够对磁场产生反应，并对磁场信息做出处理。Besides this observation, Kirschvink found that the neural response was delayed a few hundred milliseconds – suggesting an active brain response, he said.
除了这一发现之外，乔还发现神经反应被延迟了几百毫秒--他表示，这显示了一个积极的大脑活动反应。This may be linked to the notion that magnetic fields can influence 'electric currents in the brain that mimic an EEG signal'.
与此相关的一个观点是，磁场可以影响“在大脑中模仿脑电波的电流”。Kirschvink found a a similar response when the magnetic field was contorted on the floor of the box, but not when the magnetic field twisted upwards or rotated clockwise.
当磁场在箱子的底部被扭曲时，乔发现参与者们有类似的反应，但是当磁场向上或顺时针旋转扭曲时，就不能够再观测到这一现象了。
