MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: is amount of magnetite in a human brain genetic?

Date: Sun Oct 8 20:59:09 2006
Posted By: W Emory Lawrence MD, M.D., Family Practice/Emergency Medicine, Clay County Hospital
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 1156337034.Gb
Message:

Magnetite occurs within tissues of many organisms including human brain. 
In some animals it functions in magnetoreception, or  the ability to 
sense the Earth's magnetic field. The function in humans is unclear, and 
since presence or absence of magnetite has no known medical implications, 
it has no been studied too much. I am fairly certain that if you studied 
it, you would find some degree of heredity - that is, a person with the 
trait would likely have parents and children also with it.


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