Spin chemistry in living systems

Magnetobiology-the study of non-thermal effects of magnetic fields on biological systems-has a vast, wide-ranging, and ever-expanding literature.Sadly, much of it is beset by conflicting, implausible or extravagant claims.The credibility of many reports is marred by shortcomings in experimental design and description, inadequate controls, unblinded protocols, inappropriate statistical analysis, lack of comparability with other studies, or poor reproducibility.Careful attempts at direct independent replication are scarce and frequently unsuccessful 1,2.Authors can be reluctant to write up, journal editors to publish, and others to cite negative replication studies, resulting in an unbalanced literature.False positives no doubt abound.Raw data are often not made publicly available.The magnetobiology literature must therefore be viewed with a critical eye: not everything should be accepted at face value.This is a shame.Magnetic field effects on chemical systems have provided powerful insights into the structures and dynamics of molecules and the kinetics and mechanisms of their reactions 3,4.Related achievements should be possible in biology, in areas such as the physiological effects of anthropogenic magnetic fields, the effectiveness of magnetic therapies and medical diagnostics, and the improvement of crop yields, to name but a few.