最近，一个非常玄学的话题上了微博热搜。
这还了得？
网友立刻就炸开了锅。
毕竟为了自己准得惊人的预感，这些年来已经承受了太多……
然而这个世界上还是有很多好心网友的：
也有一些网友提出质疑：
如果第六感这么科学，为什么考试时不好用？
甚至有网友表示：是不是第七感也快被证实了？
魔法被证实的那一天也不远了吧？
对此场景，吃瓜群众也是喜闻乐见：
直到终于有人看不下去了——
What immediately springs to mind when you hear the term "sixth sense"?
The 1999 American supernatural horror film? Spider Man's ability to sense imminent danger? Something mythological, spiritual and transnatural?
As several media outlets reported the researchers from Caltech and the University of Tokyo found humans do have the ability of a sixth sense, the news sparked broad reactions on Chinese social media. The topic became one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo.
Under the hashtag, Weibo users commented on the research. Many said the existence of a sixth sense would explain why they could sometimes feel a successful event would happen. Others suspected the scientific discovery of a sixth sense was only the start for more and more supernatural phenomenon and myths to be scientifically proven in the future. However, some also pointed out that people should make it clear what having a sixth sense really means in the field of science.
Not your sixth sense
“第六感”到底是什么？
所以文章里到底说了啥呢？
我们需要先定义一下“第六感”。
通常我们所说的“第六感”，又被称为“超感官知觉”（ESP, extrasensory perception），或“心觉”。此能力能使拥有者透过正常感官之外的管道接收讯息，预知将要发生的事情，与当事人之前的经验累积所得的推断无关。
According to most people's understanding, the sixth sense refers to a feeling, thought or information acquired without the use of the five main senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. This type of perception is called extrasensory perception or ESP. It may allow people to foresee the occurrence of possible future events.
但是！科学家口中的“第六感”指的是生物对于地球磁场的感受能力。
However, the sixth sense researched by scientists is, in fact, the ability to sense the earth's magnetic field, also known as magnetoreception.
没懂？没懂就对了，小编也没懂
举个例子，鱼类、两栖动物、爬行动物、鸟类和许多哺乳动物，都是利用这一能力来完成归巢和迁徙导航的。
也就是说，雁南飞，鱼迁徙，全靠生物第六感。
Many animals, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and some mammals have magnetoreceptive abilities. The animals use it when migrating or returning home.
虽然现代科技发展到今天，我们已经不需要依靠磁感受能力就能辨别空间位置和地理坐标，但我们仍然想知道，作为高级动物的人类是否有同样的能力呢？
或者，这一能力在人类的进化过程中是否已经退化？
过去十几年，研究生物磁感应的科学家一直试图证明人类具有“第六感”。
有些研究显示人类是存在磁感的。比如科学家曾在人脑组织中发现过生物性磁铁晶体，它可能说明人类大脑是具有磁感受能力的。
但由于没有找到能够直接测量效果的方法，这些结果大多无法被重复和证实。
Over the past decades, scientists have attempted to prove that humans share a similar ability with animals. In the 1990s, scientists found the magnetite showing up in the human brain might suggest humans have magnetoreception. However, there was still no direct evidence to determine whether humans do sense magnetic fields or not.
而今天在微博上成为热点的这篇，由加州理工学院的研究团队和东京大学的学者共同发表在专业期刊杂志eNeuro上的研究，终于获得了首个神经科学层面的证据，证明人类不仅能感应到磁场，并且大脑会对磁场变化作出强烈反应。
怎么做到的呢？
简单说，就是让被试者坐进下面这个特制的“法拉第笼”里，记录他们的脑电波活动。
研究过程中，研究者改变笼中的磁场时，虽然参与者本人没有明显的感觉，相关联的脑电波的变化则被捕获。
The study by scientists from Caltech and the University of Tokyo that stormed Chinese social media sites today offered compelling experimental evidence that the human brain can not only sense but also respond to the earth's magnetic field. In other words, we are subconsciously processing magnetic signals.
How did the researchers do that?
The scientists had participants sit in an improved Faraday cage, an isolated radiofrequency-shielded chamber, in silence and utter darkness for an hour, during which they shifted the magnetic field around the chamber and measured participants' brain waves.
Though the participants were not consciously aware, changes in brain waves were detected among many participants that correlated with changes in the magnetic field around the chamber.
说了这么多，所以这个如此重要的发现对我们有什么用呢？
目前还不知道。
对人类来说，目前想要有意识地利用这种能力还非常困难。
不过研究者提到，也许有能利用这种能力的人，只是还没被发现！
总之，让我们静待以后的研究吧！
