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Did you know that plants can see feel magnetic fields?
The idea of magnets improving the growth and health of plants has been around since as early as the 1950s. With the rise of magnets becoming a common household item, came the numerous, and mostly baseless, claims about what they could do for you. Supposedly the connection between magnets and plants began as a wives' tale, just something you'd hear, that if you put magnets in your garden your plants would grow faster and be heartier. After a couple of decades of this being a tall tale, studies were conducted and found that there was actually truth to this claim.
What is known about this topic today?
We have come a long way in understanding the science behind the magnetoreception of plants since the 1950s. We now know that plants are capable of detecting the Global Magnetic Field (the massive magnetic field that is generated by the earth's core, AKA the Magnetosphere) and thus capable of detecting when a they are exposed to a field that is both higher or lower than it in intensity. This goes beyond just detecting them however, because it has been found that within certain ranges of magnetic intensity the metabolism of these plants his supercharged and they grow faster, healthier, and even regulate their water use more effectively.
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This all seems very strange when you think about it. You may be thinking, "Why do plants have this adaptation if they are rarely exposed to magnetic fields other than the GMF?" Well that is where things get really interesting. You see, the polarity of the Earth's GMF flips every so often, and its magnetic intensity fluctuates between being much lower than it normally is. Now we can only accurately predict when these changes have occurred back to the late Jurassic period, and something that's come about since then is now the most diverse group of plants on the planet Angiosperms AKA flowering plants. It has been found that every single major period of diversification that took place with Angiosperms lines up with one of the periods of fluctuation where the GMF was returning to a higher intensity. What this implies is that plants have not only been influenced by changes in surrounding magnetic fields in the past, but that their evolution itself has been guided by this phenomenon.
So what can you do to help this field of study?
One thing this specific area of botany needs is more data. There have been many studies on this topic done in the past and are still being done today, yet it is still a topic that few seem to know about. There may be some people out there who have heard of it in passing or maybe as a fun fact, but don't ever think of the possible ways this phenomenon can be utilized for good.
Nearly all studies done in this field have been with common crops plants, and how Magnetic Therapy can be utilized for agricultural purposes. This does have the potential to greatly help the agricultural industry, but other applications of it such as its potential to aide in habitat restoration have not been studied. It is clear that this field needs further research to be done to fully understand the extent of how beneficial it is, before it can begin to be applied as an effective method of increasing crop survivability/yield, or how it can help regenerate damaged or lost habitat.
This is where you can come in. By joining this project you can help us generate useful data to help us understand the true potential of Magnetic Therapy. Beyond the limits of higher education we can learn together wether or not this could become a useable alternative to GMOs used in both agriculture and habitat restoration. Be sure to share your info if you are interested, and consider donating to help not only this project, but any we may launch in the future.
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Click for links to scholarly articles about this topic.
