Science: Magnetic Storks

If gaping peasants in northern France, Germany or Poland last week thought they saw six white storks with wings dyed pink and green, aluminum bands on their legs and magnets strapped to their heads, the peasants had not lost their minds. The storks were indeed so equipped. They were subjects of a scientific experiment, prepared by Professor Kazimierz Wodzicki and two other Polish naturalists at Warsaw's College of Agriculture.

European storks migrate to Africa for the winter and many come back year after year to the same nests in northern Europe. How they or any other migratory birds find their way across...

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