The DOI matches its Crossref record; 221 of the 222 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Radical-Pair Mechanism of Magnetoreception
Open accessAbstract
Although it has been known for almost half a century that migratory birds can detect the direction of the Earth's magnetic field, the primary sensory mechanism behind this remarkable feat is still unclear. The leading hypothesis centers on radical pairs—magnetically sensitive chemical intermediates formed by photoexcitation of cryptochrome proteins in the retina. Our primary aim here is to explain the chemical and physical aspects of the radical-pair mechanism to biologists and the biological and chemical aspects to physicists. In doing so, we review the current state of knowledge on magnetoreception mechanisms. We dare to hope that this tutorial will stimulate new interdisciplinary experimental and theoretical work that will shed much-needed additional light on this fascinating problem in sensory biology.
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“Magnetic fields alter the coherent interconversion between singlet and triplet configurations, and because these spin states lead to different reaction outcomes, reaction yields are determined by spin coherence rather than reaction energetics [33,34,35].”
From The Heart’s Electromagnetic Field in Emotions, Empathy and Human Connection: Biosensor-Derived Insights into Heart–Brain Axis Mechanisms and a Basis for Novel BioMagnetoTherapies (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“While RPM does not directly address the cardiac field or emotional processes, it provides an experimental and theoretical basis that renders the hypothesis regarding biologic systems’ sensitivity to such weak magnetic fields mechanistically plausible.”
From The Heart’s Electromagnetic Field in Emotions, Empathy and Human Connection: Biosensor-Derived Insights into Heart–Brain Axis Mechanisms and a Basis for Novel BioMagnetoTherapies (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Although its nanotesla-scale strength (0.1–1 nT) poses a significant limitation for conventional biological interpretation, stochastic resonance and the radical pair mechanism offer plausible theoretical frameworks through which weak magnetic fields could exert measurable effects under specific conditions [35,36,37,38,39].”
From The Heart’s Electromagnetic Field in Emotions, Empathy and Human Connection: Biosensor-Derived Insights into Heart–Brain Axis Mechanisms and a Basis for Novel BioMagnetoTherapies (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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“The Radical Pair Mechanism (RPM) proposes that magnetic fields can influence chemical reactions by modulating the quantum spin dynamics of transient radical pairs.”
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Citations
Cites
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“In 2000, Schulten’s suggestion changed overnight from interesting curiosity to intriguing possibility when he, Adem, and Ritz wrote an article (162) that both made the 1978 proposal accessible to biologists and suggested a specific molecule in which appropriate radical pairs might be formed.”
BackgroundInfluential
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Long-distance navigation and magnetoreception in migratory animals
Mouritsen, H. (2018) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0176-1 · Cited by 547
Self-citationMagnetic sensitivity of cryptochrome 4 from a migratory songbird
Xu, J., Jarocha, L. E., Zollitsch, T. M., Konowalczyk, M., Henbest, K. B., Richert, S., Golesworthy, M. J., Schmidt, J., Déjean, V., Sowood, D. J. C., et al. (2021) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03618-9 · Cited by 433
Self-citationRecent Advances in Magnetic Field-Enhanced Electrocatalysis
Zhang, Y., Liang, C., Wu, J., Liu, H., Zhang, B., Jiang, Z., Li, S., & Xu, P. (2020) · ACS Applied Energy Materials · doi:10.1021/acsaem.0c02104 · Cited by 282
Electrochemistry in Magnetic Fields
Luo, S., Elouarzaki, K., & Xu, Z. J. (2022) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.202203564 · Cited by 282
Günther, A., Einwich, A., Sjulstok, E., Feederle, R., Bolte, P., Koch, K.-W., Solov’yov, I. A., & Mouritsen, H. (2018) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.003 · Cited by 204
“Its location in the outer segments of the double cones makes Cry4 an even likelier magnetoreception candidate, because the hundreds of parallel cell membranes in photoreceptor outer segments would facilitate an at least partial alignment of the cryptochromes relative to one another [7, 18, 22, 23, 26], and a magnetic…”
InfluentialSelf-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Mouritsen, Henrik
- Venue
- Annual Review of Biophysics
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2016-07-05
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 299-344
- ISSN
- 1936-122X (ISSN-L)
- 1936-1238
- OpenAlex
- W2342982958
- Cited by
- 813
- References
- 222
- Citations by year
- 2026: 119 · 2025: 96 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 89 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 100 · 2020: 72 · 2019: 64 · 2018: 55 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 13
- FWCI
- 6.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annual Review of Biophysics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- EMF Biological Research Trust
- European Commission (FP7/2007–2013/ERC, 2007–2013, FP7 2007-2013, FP7/2007)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (GRK1885, FP7/2007–2013)
- Volkswagen Foundation
- U.S. Air Force (FA9550)
- Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L011972/1)
- 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
- magnetoreception, radical pairs, cryptochrome, bird migration, magnetic field sensing, photoexcitation, radical pair mechanism, sensory biology
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Free Radicals, Retina, Space Perception, Animal Migration, Cryptochromes, Magnetic Fields
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