🗞️ Old News Revisited: In 2009, NPR Reported on How Power Lines Seemed to Disrupt Cows’ Internal Compass

May 1, 2026 (EMFS)

Mar 16, 2009 (original)

This Old News Revisited look back returns to a 2009 NPR segment on research suggesting that high-voltage power lines appeared to disrupt the usual magnetic alignment of cattle and deer grazing nearby.

"High voltage power lines can interfere with the ability of cows and deer to respond normally to the Earth's magnetic field, according to a team of European researchers that has been studying these animals with the help of Google Earth."

— NPR, Power Lines Upset Cows' Compass (2009)

"Under these power lines, the orientation of the animals is random, in all directions."

— Hynek Burda, quoted by NPR (2009)

Source

Power Lines Upset Cows' Compass npr.org