This article is extracted from a National Newspaper in the UK, now not available easily in the archives, so is reproduced here without permission as a supporting resource for a project suggestion on fyp/. The objective is to conduct an independent verification to see if there is any scientific substance in the rather wild claims below.

Quote....

We live in a sea of electromagnetic fields, oblivious to what surrounds us. We are unaware of the Earth's magnetic field, the constant ripples of electrical activity from our own nervous system, and the many man-made fields around us.

As mobile phones, phone masts and other sources become more common, their effects become more important. And while fears of cancer clusters have largely subsided, other more subtle effects are entirely real. We are still learning what magnetic fields can do, but their effects may range from mild disorientation to plagues of ghosts, alien abductions and visitations from God Himself.

An early finding was the discovery in the 1940s that homing pigeons have a built-in compass. This was a surprise, because it was known that they normally navigate using the sun and the stars. A series ofingenious experiments showed they have a back-up system. Pigeons fitted with darkened contact lenses could still find their way home.

However, when small bar magnets were attached as well, they lost their homing sense. Further research revealed a layer of cells containing tiny crystals of magnetite between the pigeon's brain and the skull which allow the bird to find north with a very high degree of accuracy.

Honey bees navigate using the sun, but can still find their way on cloudy days. Scans showed magnetic cells in the bees'abdomen, but proving that they have an internal compass was a challenge. It is not so easy to fit magnets to a bee, never mind contact lenses.

A different approach was taken. Bees direct their fellow workers to food sources With a kind of wiggling dance. Researchers found that placing an electromagnet around the hive disoriented the bees so they were unable to communicate the right direction. When the magnet was switched off the bees regained their ability.

The list of creatures known to possess this sense now includes species as diverse as bacteria, butterflies and loggerhead turtles. Migrating whales rely on it, sometimes with tragic results. Pilot whales are most often beached in places where an area of low magnetic field strength coincides with a stretch of coastline.

Do humans have a magnetic sense? In some tests, volunteers showed a good sense of direction unless they were exposed to magnets. In other experiments, the magnets had no effect. It may be that the subjects in the second experiment were confused by the 'magnetic pollution" of overhead power lines and other sources. It may be that this pollution is so common that some people never learn to use their internal compass.

Whether or not we can sense weak magnetic fields, we know a stronger field can affect the brain directly. Dr Michael Persinger of Lawrentian University in Wisconsin has conducted a series of experiments using fields no more powerful than those from a hairdryer, with amazing results.

Dr Persinger's apparatus is called a Koren helmet. Clamped over the subject's head, it applies a field to specific parts of the brain that is modulated to mimic the brain's own activity. The effects vary, but often after a few minutes the subjects start to experience visions. The content depends on their background and beliefs. A Catholic may see the Virgin Mary, a Moslem might experience Allah. Others sense angels or other beings. The common feature is that there is a sense of a presence which is usually felt to be supernatural. One religious subject said the equipment should be exorcised because it contained the devil.

This research is tied in with the theory that geological activity produces natural magnetic "hotspots" giving rise to places where people have strange experiences.

This is thought to be the origin of haunted groves and houses as well as sacred sites where visionaries encounter God. Dr Persinger does not dismiss ecstatic visions as simply a product of electrical activity. His view is that this could simply be our way of perceiving the divine.

Another neuroscientist, Peter Brugger of University Hospital in Zurich, has linked the stimulation of the brains parietal lobes with certain types of eerie encounter. Excitation of these lobes makes us unable to distinguish between our body and the surrounding space. A distortion of body image occurs, an effect related to the way that amputees may sometimes feel a phantom limb. Some people may witness their body from outside, as an apparent replica of themselves. Another effect is the feeling of consciousness leaving their body entirely to float away in an out-of-body experience.

UFO researcher Albert Budden has visited the homes of people who have reported alien abduction experiences, and found they seem to have unusually strong electromagnetic fields. He traces these to interactions between overhead and underground power lines, radio and TV transmitters. "Abductees" often report a feeling of paralysis followed by sensations of floating, bright lights and a sense of being scrutinised by alien presences. These effects are all familiar to Dr Persinger's subjects.

Direct stimulation is also beginning to be used therapeutically, in a technique known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). The field is applied to the left prefrontal cortex, an area which seems to be underactive in depressed patients. After daily treatment for two weeks the pre-frontal cortex appears to become more active again, and more than half of the patients reported that their depression had lifted.

Another possible use of TMS is in helping stroke victims recover their capabilities by stimulating damaged parts of the brain. However, research is in its infancy and the long-term effects have not been fully established.

New research brings the possibility of abuse. Oppressive regimes might be able to put direct brain stimulation to chilling use. Drugs such as LSD started out in the laboratory before being taken up by people in search of a new high. It is probably only a matter of time before direct brain stimulation attracts recreational users.

This might take the form of bootleg Koren helmets being rented in shady back rooms. Or maybe seekers will simply wander around arrays of microwave transmitters, looking for that magic resonant spot where the fields interact and they find themselves floating among angels and aliens.

reference UK National Press 31st August 2000
Perhaps in "The Guardian"??