Science. It works.

Two researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Le-Qing Wu and David Dickman, have  identified cells in a pigeon’s brain that record detailed information on the Earth’s magnetic field, a kind of biological compass.The group of specialized cells are in the brain stem and record direction and intensity of the magnetic field. And they have good, but not conclusive, evidence to suggest that the information these cells are recording is coming from the bird’s inner ear. So cray!