Biomagnetism is the phenomenon of

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

s ''produced'' by living organisms; it is a subset of

bioelectromagnetism Bioelectromagnetics, also known as bioelectromagnetism, is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities. Areas of study include electromagnetic fields produced by living cells, tissues or organisms, the e ...

. In contrast, organisms' use of magnetism in navigation is

magnetoception Magnetoreception is a sense which allows an organism to detect the Earth's magnetic field. Animals with this sense include some arthropods, molluscs, and vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, though not humans). The se ...

and the study of the magnetic fields' ''effects'' on organisms is ''

magnetobiology Magnetobiology is the study of biological effects of mainly weak static and low-frequency magnetic fields, which do not cause heating of tissues. Magnetobiological effects have unique features that obviously distinguish them from thermal effects; ...

''. (The word biomagnetism has also been used loosely to include magnetobiology, further encompassing almost any combination of the words magnetism, cosmology, and biology, such as "magnetoastrobiology".) The origin of the word biomagnetism is unclear, but seems to have appeared several hundred years ago, linked to the expression "

animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, was a protoscientific theory developed by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century in relation to what he claimed to be an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all livi ...

". The present scientific definition took form in the 1970s, when an increasing number of researchers began to measure the magnetic fields produced by the human body. The first valid measurement was actually made in 1963, but the field of research began to expand only after a low-noise technique was developed in 1970.{{cite journal , last1=Cohen , first1=David , last2=Edelsack , first2=Edgar A. , last3=Zimmerman , first3=James E. , title=Magnetocardiograms taken inside a shielded room with a superconducting point contact magnetometer , journal=Applied Physics Letters , publisher=AIP Publishing , volume=16 , issue=7 , year=1970 , issn=0003-6951 , doi=10.1063/1.1653195 , pages=278–280, bibcode=1970ApPhL..16..278C Today the community of biomagnetic researchers does not have a formal organization, but international conferences are held every two years, with about 600 attendees. Most conference activity centers on the MEG (

magnetoencephalogram Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a functional neuroimaging technique for mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents occurring naturally in the brain, using very sensitive magnetometers. Arrays of SQUIDs ...

), the measurement of the magnetic field of the brain.

Prominent researchers

* David Cohen *

John Wikswo John Peter Wikswo, Jr. (born October 6, 1949) is a biological physicist at Vanderbilt University. He was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. Wikswo is noted for his work on biomagnetism and cardiac electrophysiology. Graduate school ...

* Samuel Williamson

Prominent researchers

See also

Notes

Further reading