According to a French study released Monday, dolphins are attracted to magnets. Platonically, of course.
To find out if dolphins are magnetosensitive—or able to sense Earth’s magnetic field—researchers tested how six bottleneck dolphins swimming freely independently reacted to barrels containing both magnetized and demagnetized blocks.
If the findings hold up to scrutiny, it would be a momentous discovery. Although many animals are suspected to orient themselves using the Earth’s magnetic pull, there’s precious little proof that this is the case. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine concluded in 2012 that pigeons have magnetosensitive GPS cells in their brains.
We don’t quite know where this fits into dolphins’ plot to take over the world, but now that they might be working with the pigeons, we are utterly terrified.
More Must-Reads From TIME
- Why We're Spending So Much Money Now
- The Fight to Free Evan Gershkovich
- Meet the 2024 Women of the Year
- John Kerry's Next Move
- The Quiet Work Trees Do for the Planet
- Breaker Sunny Choi Is Heading to Paris
- Column: The Internet Made Romantic Betrayal Even More Devastating
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Contact us at letters@time.com