eventually stabilize at some frequency which was directly related to the circadian rate (e.g. to two-to-
one relationship). Subjects in the totally shielded room on the other hand, would demonstrate real
desynchronization with several variables shifting away from the primary rate (which was not a normal
circadian cycle to begin with) and stabilizing finally at a rate that had no harmonic relationship to the
primary rate (16). All of these phenomena were statistically significant in a large series of subjects.
In an even more dramatic experiment Wever was able to introduce fully controlled electrical or
magnetic fields into the completely shielded room (17). In this fashion he was able to study the effects
of various parameters of these forces on the biological cycles. The fields introduced were imperceptible
to the subjects and in fact the exact nature of the experiment was frequently not divulged to the subject.
Static electrical fields of 300 v/m and static magnetic fields of 1.5 Oe. produced no measurable effect
upon the cycle abnormalities exhibited by the experimental subjects. However, Wever found that the
introduction of a 10-Hz electrical field (a square wave with a peak to peak field strength of 2.5 v/m)
induced a return to normal cycle parameters. The abnormal lengthening in the "free running" period
was promptly reduced; intersubject variability in the cycle patterns was also reduced as was the
incidence of internal desynchronization. Wever interpreted these findings as indicating that the Io-Hz
cyclic variations in the earth's normal electromagnetic field are probably the primary determinants of
biological cycles. It is most interesting to consider this evidence in light of Cole and Graf's hypothesis
regarding the 10-Hz component and the origin of life and the prominence of the 10-Hz component in
the EEG common to all higher animals.
Positional and Navigational Aides
It is clear that the existence of the biological cycle phenomenon is dependent upon the living
subject having precise knowledge of its position on the earth. Since it also appears that the earth's
electromagnetic field is the most important single signal for this function, it seems likely that it is
similarly involved in the migrational and direction-finding abilities of many animals. This possibility
has been confirmed by recent studies. Within the past few years a marked increase in interest in this
area has occurred following some truly remarkable findings.
That various species of animals migrate with precision along definite geographic routes or with
extreme temporal precision has no doubt been known to mankind since the dawn of civilization. While
the true extent of this phenomenon was not apparent until it began to be studied by biologists, the
Egyptians made use of the navigational ability of the homing pigeon as early as 2000 B.C. We now
have a much better idea of the ability of certain animals in this regard. The common monarch butterfly,
for example, annually travels over 2000 miles from Hudson Bay to South America, crossing several
hundred miles of the Caribbean Sea, devoid of landmarks, in the process. The Arctic tern breeds in the
North American sub-arctic region and travels to the antarctic pack ice for the northern hemisphere
winter season, a distance of 11,000 miles. Species of salamanders, after hatching out of eggs laid in the
mountain streams of California, will move out as far as 30 miles away across rugged terrain to grow to
maturity, only to return to precisely the same stream and the same spot that they hatched out in years
before. The palolo worm of the South Pacific Ocean migrates only the short vertical distance from the
coral reef to the surface to breed, but it does so only on the first day of the last quarter of the October-
November moon.
The obvious question is how can so simple an animal as a butterfly, for example, whose brain
can literally rest on the head of a pin, accomplish this navigational feat? Experimentally, the earliest
interest was directed to the ability of the homing pigeon to navigate with precision over long distances
ELECTROMAGNETISM & LIFE - 53