What is Biomagnetism?
I bought an emergency flashlight that doesn’t require batteries. You shake the flashlight back and forth for a while and the light comes on. My wife and I use this flashlight when the power goes out. How does it work? (spoiler alert- brief science lesson coming up…).
Well, inside the flashlight cylinder there is a magnet that looks like a ring. I use my energy to shake the flashlight. When I shake the flashlight, the magnet slides back and forth over coils of copper wire. My energy moves the magnet over the coils. The motion of the magnet over the copper wire transfers my energy into direct current electricity. Direct current electricity in the wires charges the reusable battery and the light comes on. So, in essence, I am the battery since my energy created the electric charge. Enough of the science lesson.
Our bodies are just like batteries and charge when we eat. Muscles and nerves in our bodies create small electromagnetic fields when we use them. When you lift a free weight with your arm, the muscles in your arm move just like the magnet in the flashlight. Not only does it create force to lift the weight, the muscles also create electromagnetic energy. The electromagnetic energy you create is called biomagnetism. Human brain cells use biomagnetism to communicate with each other. Certain forms of algae use biomagnetism to create light in the ocean when disturbed. Electric eels use biomagnetism to create energy shocks so they can stun their prey Even though you might not have heard of biomagnetism, there are examples everywhere is nature.
As physicians, we can identify biomagnetism using technologies like the EKG (heart biomagnetism), EEG (brain biomagnetism) and EMG (muscle biomagnetism). The problem is that the amount of electromagnetic energy created by biomagnetism is usually so small that current technologies have trouble directly measuring it. EMF Disturbance Monitors has patented a method to indirectly measure biomagnetism. Stay tuned as we explore the opportunities to use this platform to study biomagnetism in both animals and humans.
