Mexican Burrowing Toads as gravitational wave detectors

TL;DR

This paper explores the hypothesis that Mexican Burrowing Toads could serve as biological detectors for gravitational waves by analyzing their calls for phase shifts, proposing an unconventional, cost-effective detection method.

Contribution

It introduces a novel idea that toad calls might detect gravitational waves through bio-magnetic interactions and Raman laser amplification, a concept not previously considered in gravitational wave detection.

Findings

No gravitational wave effects were detected in the toad calls.

The study demonstrates the feasibility of analyzing biological signals for gravitational wave detection.

It highlights the potential of using toads as a low-cost supplement to existing detectors.

Abstract

It is generally assumed that gravitational waves are extremely difficult to detect. However, we show that the call of the Mexican Burrowing Toad has an amazing resemblance to cosmic gravitational wave signals due to the merging of neutron stars and/or black holes. It is known that toads exhibit magnetoreception - the ability to detect magnetic fields - and that magnetic fields thus subtly affect ion channel activities in toad neurons. We speculate that gravitational strains produce phonons and magnons in a ferromagnetic substance embedded in the nervous system of the toads and that these coherent signals are exponentially amplified by a Raman laser mechanism to the point where they can be detected. The fine tuning necessary for this mechanism to work would help to explain why this species of toad show this remarkable ability and others do not. We analyze the sound of a pond full of Mexican Burrowing Toads in the hopes of detecting slight phase shifts in their calls due to a gravitational wave event. No effect was found and the the LIGO/VIRGO consortia have not reported an event during the recording, illustrating the power of this approach. We suggest the massive use of these toads would be an inexpensive way to support the operation of optical interferometric gravitational wave detector facilities.