Walking in Circles

Using volunteers strapped with GPS units, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany, tested out the innate navigational ability of hikers under multiple conditions.  Published in the journal Current Biology, researchers Jan Souman and Marc Ernst looked at the walking pattern of nine hikers placed in the Sahara desert in Tunisia and in the Bienwald forest in Germany.  Each individual was told to walk in a straight line for several hours.

So what was the purpose of the study? Souman and Ernst wanted to test the long held believe that people tend to walk in circles when lost.  The study found that in conditions where the walker couldn’t access visual clues on direction from the sun or the moon, the trajectory tended to be circular.

Read more: People Do Walk in Circles When They’re Lost – ABC News

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