The magnetic compass has been a crucial navigational tool for around a thousand years or so, perhaps longer. While classical versions still work perfectly well, you can now get digital magnetometer… ...

Parts of a baseplate compass. ... Magnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north and true north, and it’s also one of the primary places where beginner navigators mess up.

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 ...

Furthermore, studies investigating what parts of a migratory bird´s brain are active when the birds use their magnetic compass showed that the cryptochrome-containing neurons in the eye and a ...

A protein in the retina of a migratory bird can respond to weak magnetic fields, researchers have found (Nature 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03618-9). The discovery suggests that the protein ...

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… ...

The magnetic compass — used in navigation for hundreds of years — is a tool that helps you find your way. Good beginner hiking/orienteering compasses can be found online or in outdoor sections ...

With a compass, you can find out which way a magnetic pole is—and from that, you can approximate other directions such as where south, east and west are as well. On supporting science journalism ...

Magnetic compass information is known to have a key role in bird orientation, ... Immediately before the orientation tests, we exposed all test birds to parts of the local evening sky.

If you think your compass has been directing you true north, you are wrong. At some point over the next two weeks compasses at Greenwich will point true north for the first time in about 360 years.