The DOI matches its Crossref record; 64 of the 65 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The quantum needle of the avian magnetic compass
Open accessAbstract
Significance: Billions of birds fly thousands of kilometers every year between their breeding and wintering grounds, helped by an extraordinary ability to detect the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field. The biophysical sensory mechanism at the heart of this compass is thought to rely on magnetically sensitive, light-dependent chemical reactions in cryptochrome proteins in the eye. Thus far, no theoretical model has been able to account for the <5° precision with which migratory birds are able to detect the geomagnetic field vector. Here, using computer simulations, we show that genuinely quantum mechanical, long-lived spin coherences in realistic models of cryptochrome can provide the necessary precision. The crucial structural and dynamical molecular properties are identified.
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“In response to this it has been suggested that the incredible accuracy of the compass is the result of avoided crossings of the spin energy levels of radicals formed in cryptochromes, a process that is genuinely quantum mechanical [99].”
From The future of quantum biology (2018) · cites this paper as [99]
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Citations
Cites
A Model for Photoreceptor-Based Magnetoreception in Birds
Ritz, T., Adem, S., & Schulten, K. (2000) · Biophysical Journal · doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(00)76629-x · Cited by 1,176 · cited 5×
“Theoretical treatments of radical pair-based magnetoreception typically involve simulations of the quantum spin dynamics of short-lived radicals in Earth strength (∼50 μT) magnetic fields (9, 10, 17).”
BackgroundInfluentialMagnetic Compass of European Robins
Wiltschko, W., & Wiltschko, R. (1972) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.176.4030.62 · Cited by 752
Chemical magnetoreception in birds: The radical pair mechanism
Rodgers, C. T., & Hore, P. J. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0711968106 · Cited by 542
Self-citationGill, R. E., Tibbitts, T. L., Douglas, D. C., Handel, C. M., Mulcahy, D. M., Gottschalck, J., Warnock, N. D., McCaffery, B. J., Battley, P. F., & Piersma, T. (2008) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.1142 · Cited by 497
A Biomagnetic Sensory Mechanism Based on Magnetic Field Modulated Coherent Electron Spin Motion
Schulten, K., Swenberg, C. E., & Weller, A. (1978) · Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie · doi:10.1524/zpch.1978.111.1.001 · Cited by 430
Anthropogenic electromagnetic noise disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory bird
Engels, S., Schneider, N.-L., Lefeldt, N., Hein, C. M., Zapka, M., Michalik, A., Elbers, D., Kittel, A., Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H. (2014) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature13290 · Cited by 403 · cited 4×
“It remains to be seen, however, whether the spin relaxation can be slow enough to explain the reported effects (52).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationEffects of weak magnetic fields on free radical recombination reactions
Timmel, C. R., Till, U., Brocklehurst, B., McLauchlan, K. A., & Hore, P. J. (1998) · Molecular Physics · doi:10.1080/00268979809483134 · Cited by 393
Self-citationMaeda, K., Robinson, A. J., Henbest, K. B., Hogben, H. J., Biskup, T., Ahmad, M., Schleicher, E., Weber, S., Timmel, C. R., & Hore, P. J. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1118959109 · Cited by 384
Self-citationMigrating Songbirds Recalibrate Their Magnetic Compass Daily from Twilight Cues
Cochran, W. W., Mouritsen, H., & Wikelski, M. C. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1095844 · Cited by 383
Self-citationSustained Quantum Coherence and Entanglement in the Avian Compass
Gauger, E. M., Rieper, E., Morton, J. J. L., Benjamin, S. C., & Vedral, V. (2011) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.040503 · Cited by 357
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- CT Rodgers Magnetic field effects in chemical systems. DPhil thesis (Univ of Oxford Oxford UK). (2007).
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Items 201–215 of 215
Tse, P. U. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198876953.002.0003
Electromagnetic Basis for Life: The Case of Jupiter's Quantum MagnetospherePreprint
Perera, M. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5255350
Radical pair mechanism in magnetobiology: state of the art
Binhi, V. N. (2025) · Uspekhi Fizicheskih Nauk · doi:10.3367/ufnr.2025.09.040032
LaPierre, R. (2025) · The Materials Research Society series · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-90731-9_5
Petalcorin, M. I. R., & Vega, M. A. R. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2025.11.15.688570
Cuppen, J. J. M., & Savelkoul, H. F. J. (2025) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms27010143 · Cited by 1
“Weak magnetic fields can also modulate radical-pair electron spin chemistry in flavoproteins—best established in migratory bird magnetoreception—but this mechanism is still under investigation in mammalian cells [171].”
Quantum Biology Using Ultrafast Integrative and Molecular Engineering Tools: A Perspective
Khakurel, K. P., Fuertes, G., & Žoldák, G. (2026) · Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal · doi:10.34133/csbj.0024
“Following this logic, cryptochromes are supposed to act as a magnetoreceptor molecule through spin-correlated radicals [65,66].”
Quantum Infrastructure in Biology and the Brain
Roeloffs, J. (2026) · The frontiers collection · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-20068-6_2
Ramsey interferometry and radical pair mechanism for magnetic field sensing: A comparative study
Chen, X., Liu, H., & Cai, J. (2026) · Physics Letters A · doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2026.131928
Protein–Solvent Interface Controls Proton-Coupled Reactivity in Cryptochrome 4a
Luo, J., Tremblay, M., Hungerland, J., Solov’yov, I. A., Subotnik, J. E., & Hammes‐Schiffer, S. (2026) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.6c09345
An Open-Quantum-Systems Theory of Quantum-Biological Communication Channels
Dong, L. F. (2026) · IEEE Transactions on Molecular Biological and Multi-Scale Communications · doi:10.1109/tmbmc.2026.3716243
“9 × 10 − 2 , in the range reported for cryptochrome models with similar reduced hyperfine sets [7], [42].”
Li, Y. (2026) · Energy Conversion and Management · doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2026.122003
Quantum Biology 2.0: Traversing and harnessing protein superhighway networks of light and life
Christ, M., Izadyari, M., Murray, J., Bajpai, S., Torres, J., Pettini, M., & Kurian, P. (2026) · Protein Science · doi:10.1002/pro.70759
Shahroodi, M. S., & Abdolali, A. (2026) · doi:10.1109/icee70628.2026.11710602
“On the other hand, due to the coherence time and lifetime of radical pairs, radio-frequency (RF) magnetic fields in the approximate range of 10 5 to 10 7 Hz (from hundreds of kilohertz to several tens of megahertz) have been shown to significantly affect biological responses [5], [7]–[13].”
What Computational Simulations Tell Us about Cryptochromes in Magnetoreception
Cascone, M., Cupellini, L., & Mennucci, B. (2026) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.6c00516
Metadata
- Authors
- Hiscock, H. G., Worster, S., Kattnig, D. R., Steers, C., Jin, Y., Manolopoulos, D. E., Mouritsen, H., & Hore, P. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (DE)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2016-04-04
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 4634-4639
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4855607
- OpenAlex
- W2338302371
- Cited by
- 215
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 11
- FWCI
- 14.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- EC | European Research Council (FP7/2007-2013/ERC grant agreement no. 340451)
- DOD | Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-14-1-0095)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (GRK 1885)
- Volkswagen Foundation (Lichtenberg Professur)
- EMF Biological Research Trust (BRT 15/50)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Spectroscopy › Electron Spin Resonance Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
- Keywords
- cryptochrome, migratory birds, spin coherence, coherent spin dynamics, quantum biology, electromagnetic noise
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Computer Simulation, Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation, Homing Behavior, Models, Biological, Models, Chemical, Quantum Theory, Radiation Dosage, Signal Transduction, Animal Migration, Cryptochromes, Magnetometry, Magnetic Fields
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