Scientists now believe that the navigationally challenged can retrain their brains.
A few years ago, three backpackers left Idylwild, California, a small community in the San Jacinto Mountains, intending to hike 17 miles to Indian Canyons near Palm Springs. Forty-eight hours later, the trio still had not reached its destination. They were just lost. For instance, in 1981, R. Robin Baker, Ph.D., a biologist at the University of Manchester, England, reported that blindfolded subjects, when transported to a distant site, could indicate the direction home. Although other biologists have been unable to duplicate Baker's results, it's undeniable that some people have extraordinary abilities to find their way.