Magnetoreception in Humans: A Big Thank You for Supporting the First Steps

Dear donors,

I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you who made it possible for me to head out to Caltech and dive into this wild idea I had. Your generosity and belief in the potential of my work meant the world to me. So, here’s the scoop on what I’ve been up to and how things turned out.

Just to jog your memory (because, let’s be honest, it’s been a while since the last update), my research was about whether humans might have a hidden ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field—just like birds, turtles, whales and many more do. It’s called magnetoreception. I figured that maybe we lost it over time because of our modern lifestyle, but with the right training, we might be able to bring it back. At Caltech, I worked on building and testing experiments to see if there was anything to that idea. Long story short: we made some important, preliminary discoveries that set the stage for the work, and Caltech is continuing to explore this.

Now for the exciting part—we found some early signs that magnetoreception might actually play a role in how we visually perceive the world. This is the first time we’ve seen anything like this in humans, which is pretty wild! To be sure the effect is real, the experiment is still being run at Caltech with more and more participants. But let me be clear—this is just a starting point. We still have a long way to go before we can say we’re anywhere near being able to use this sense like other animals do. But that’s how science works—we build it up, piece by piece. And this first piece was essential, but only one of many.

Looking back at when I started, I thought I’d have all the answers in just four months. Yeah, not so much. Turns out, I was a little overambitious. But that drive pushed me to accomplish way more than even the team expected. In those four months, we:

1. Rebuilt the Faraday chamber (basically a fancy cage for testing this magnetism stuff),
2. Designed and built four completely new experiments, and
3. Pilot-tested all of them—with me as the only participant so far (couldn’t get permission for others yet).

On top of that, I also developed a wearable headband that uses vibrations to help you feel where North is, like an internal compass. The idea was to see if wearing it could train magnetoreception. I only had time for a one-hour test (not weeks or months as I’d hoped), but even in that short window, we noticed some subtle changes in my magnetic sensitivity. If you’re into the details, it’s all in my thesis, which got me a solid 9 (out of 10)!

What’s next? Well, we’re waiting to hear back about a grant that could let me work on this for a full year at Caltech. Fingers crossed! And one of the experiments we set up is — as I said — still running, and I’ve got a good feeling it will lead to a big publication down the road.

This whole experience wasn’t just an academic success for me—it was personal, too. Working alongside the Caltech team taught me so much and reminded me of how much I still don’t know (a lot!). It was also fun to be able to ask questions freely, like a kid in a candy store—whether they were related to magnetoreception or entirely different topics (like "do you think dogs smell in color?", or "is it possible to tickle yourself?") —and I always received thoughtful, knowledgeable answers. When there were no clear answers, we sometimes came up with new experiments on the spot. I ended up with more ideas than time, which is not a bad problem to have.

Anyway, I can’t thank you enough. Without your support, none of this would’ve happened. As I close this crowdfunding page, the blog will wrap up, too. If you want to stay in touch, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. And if you ever see a news headline that says something like, “Scientists prove humans can use magnetic sense,” just remember—you helped make it happen.

Cheers,

Björn