It has long been known as ESP, Spider Sense, or the ability to see things before they happen. But now scientists have proved that humans really do have a sixth sense - that lets them detectmagnetic fields.
Tests have shown that mankind may have the same innate sense of Earth's magnetic field that has long been proved to exist in animals.
By putting a protein from the human retina into fruit flies, researchers noticed that the insect modified its flight path just as if its eye had not been altered.
This suggests that the "sixth sense" does exist in humans but we might not be aware of it.
Animals use such sight to navigate long distances during migration or, in the case of birds, to "see" where they are going.
Neurobiologist Steven Reppert, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said: "We should rethink about this sixth sense. It is very important for how animals migrate. Perhaps this protein is also fulfilling an important function for sensing magnetic fields in humans.
The complex tests involved examining the process by which light goes through a bird's eye, which has intrigued the scientificcommunity for more than 30 years.
In the late 1970s, the physicist Klaus Schulten concluded that birds navigate by relying on geomagnetically sensitive biochemical reactions in their eyes.
Tests have shown that the special cells in the eye carry out this function using the protein cryptochrome.
The new study was published in the journal Nature Communications.


据英国《每日邮报》22日报道，一直以来，能够预见未来的能力被称为超感力或"蜘蛛感应"。目前，科学家已经证实人类确实拥有第六感，可探测到地球磁场。

实验测试表明人类或许拥有与动物相同的能够感知地球磁场的先天性能力，这种能力原本一直被认为只有动物才具备。

通过从人类视网膜中提取的蛋白质放入果蝇眼睛里，研究人员发现果蝇依然可以调整自己的飞行路径，就好像它们的眼睛并未发生变化。
这表明第六感的确存在于人体中，只是我们或许未曾发现而已。

动物基于这种视力系统来导航长途迁徙，对于一些鸟类，它们通过（第六感）会"看到"将要飞往的地方。

美国马萨诸塞州医学院神经生物学家史蒂芬•雷彼特说："我们应该重新思考下第六感，它对于动物迁徙非常重要，或许这种蛋白质对于人类感知磁场也具有重要作用。"

在这项复杂的实验中，研究人员检测了光线如何穿过鸟类的眼睛，该研究主题在过去30多年里一直困惑着科学界。

在上世纪70年代末，物理学家克劳斯•施尔藤推断鸟类是利用眼睛中的地磁感光生物反应来飞行的。
实验测试显示，鸟类眼睛中的特殊细胞利用隐花色素蛋白质来完成这种功能。

这项最新研究现发表在《自然通讯》杂志上。

• spider [´spaidə] n.蜘蛛；三角架 (初中英语单词)
• ability [ə´biliti] n.(办事)能力；才干 (初中英语单词)
• insect [´insekt] n.昆虫 (初中英语单词)
• flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
• medical [´medikəl] a.医学的；医疗的 (初中英语单词)
• function [´fʌŋkʃən] n.机能；职责 vi.活动 (初中英语单词)
• complex [´kɔmpleks] a.复杂的 n.综合企业 (初中英语单词)
• scientific [,saiən´tifik] a.科学(上)的 (初中英语单词)
• journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)
• detect [di´tekt] vt.发觉；侦察 (高中英语单词)
• community [kə´mju:niti] n.团体；社区；公众 (高中英语单词)
• sensitive [´sensitiv] a.敏感的；感光的 (高中英语单词)
• magnetic [mæg´netik] a.磁(性)的 (英语四级单词)
• migration [mai´greiʃən] n.迁移；移居 (英语四级单词)
• migrate [mai´greit] v.迁移；移居(外国) (英语四级单词)
• protein [´prəuti:n] n.蛋白质 a.蛋白质的 (英语六级单词)