How does a magnetic compass work? Well, it’s all down to basic physics and human ingenuity. The key component of a standard baseplate compass is its magnetized needle, which is allowed to spin freely ...

Some inventions are so simple that it’s hard to improve them. The magnetic compass is a great example — a magnetized needle, a bit of cork, and a bowl of water are all you need to start navigating the ...

In the blink of an eye in geological time, Canada has lost one north pole but gained another, a new and different claim to be ...

The magnetic compass that birds use for orientation is affected by polarized light. That is the finding of researchers in Sweden, who studied zebra finches navigating a simple maze and found that the ...

Monarch butterflies have a keen sense of direction, even on cloudy days. This is because they have a magnetic compass to direct their migration in addition to navigating by the position of the sun, ...

If shrunken down to micron size, a compass needle could wobble. (Courtesy: iStockphoto/tobias machhaus) A tiny magnetic needle just 10 μm long could be used to create a magnetic-field sensor that – if ...

Every year, great white sharks travel over 12,000 miles from South Africa to Australia, charting a nearly perfect straight line across the ocean. And every year, they turn around and travel back.

Dogs can typically smell and hear far better than their human companions. Now it appears they can sense Earth’s magnetic field too, say a team of biologists – and they show it when they poop. These ...

Source: SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. It seems that every year, the popular press reports dozens (maybe even hundreds) of cases where a dog was lost, or accidentally transported away from home, ...