Scientific American - USA (2022-04)

April 2022, ScientificAmerican.com 27

Migratory birds travel vast distances between their breeding

and wintering grounds. New research hints at the biophysical

underpinnings of their internal navigation system

By Peter J. Hore and Henrik Mouritsen

Illustration by Kyle Bean

The

Quantum

Nature

Bırd

BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Mıgratıon

of

Peter J. Hore is a chemist at the University of Oxford.

He works on the biophysical chemistry of electron and

nuclear spins and their effects on processes such as the

mechanisms of animal magnetoreception.

Henrik Mouritsen is a biologist at the University

of Oldenburg in Germany. He studies the mechanisms

of orientation and navigation in many different animals

with an emphasis on night-migrating songbirds.