Earth's magnetic field is generated by the churn of its liquid nickel-iron outer core, but it is not a constant feature. Every so often, the magnetic north and south poles swap places in what are ...

Ancient magnetic fossils reveal that animal navigation using Earth’s magnetic field may have evolved far earlier than ...

The magnetic compass is the last unknown sense in migrating animals. For some scientists, the monarch butterfly is leading the way. The magnetic compass is the last unknown sense in migrating animals.

Magnetoreception, an animal’s ability to sense Earth’s magnetic field, remains one of the most intriguing mysteries in biology. While this skill is surprisingly common across species, the inner ...

Homing pigeons can fly hundreds of miles and still land on the same rooftop. Scientists have long suspected that these birds carry an invisible compass, yet the physical sensor behind it has stayed ...

A new study by the University of Cincinnati has found that monarch butterflies have an internal compass for their epic migration that flips when the temperatures plunge. This changing polarity helps ...

North American monarch butterflies do not use Earth’s magnetic field as a map to find Mexico. They use it as a compass to hold a heading, and cold temperatures later flip that compass for the return ...

“The first time we saw them flying under the night sky with no other cue and flying in the right direction, we had to hold on to the edge of the table,” says study co-author Eric Warrant, an ...