So Doves (and a lot of other Birds I dont know about) can sense the magnetic field of the earth, right? So what happens with them when you put em in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Machine? Would the strength of the Magnet cause them any discomfort or disorient them?
In: Biology
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Yes to both.
It’s confusing for the birds and causes temporary disorientation in their navigation. It doesn’t cause them pain, in the same sense that being seasick doesn’t “hurt”, but it takes them a few hours to fully recover.
You don’t have to use a dove or any special animal. Just walk around the magnet and lean your head into the bore… it’s not overwhelming, but it’s a VERY noticeable effect of disorientation.
Source: running a 1.5T Siemens magnet right now.
I don’t think that’d be much of an issue tbh even if the answer is yes. MRIs take time to do properly. Can be thirty minutes or more. Contrast that with a CT, for example, which can take about 30 seconds to do. Motion will completely degrade any radiographic image (whether that’s an xray, CT, or MRI). In a CT, we might stick a small animal in a box really quickly or lightly sedate to prevent motion. But an MRI takes time. It is much more likely that the dove would be fully anesthetized for the duration of the MRI, and therefore wouldn’t experience any disorientation because they’re asleep.
Birds like doves have a special “superpower” that helps them know where to go by feeling the Earth’s invisible magnetic field, kind of like how we use maps. Now, an MRI machine has a really, really strong magnet inside it—much stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field. If you put a dove in there, it might get confused or feel weird because the super strong magnet would mess up its ability to feel where it is. It would be like trying to use a map, but all the roads are scrambled up! It might not hurt the dove, but it would probably feel strange and not know which way to go for a little while.
I literally just got out of an MRI & was asking the techs if they ever get to scan weird things and this was at the top of my feed.
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