A couple of the cases of dogs barking in the night that currently occupy my thoughts in ASoIaF are the force of magnetism and the role it may or may not play in the seeming lack of both sophisticated navigation and the migration of various animals to escape the brutal, unnatural winters. I don't recall any compelling evidence of magnetism as a utility, in making compasses for example. I think there is some evidence for the force (didn't Bran see Aurora Borealis  in his vision of the Heart o