Cascoly Books - Full Moon Myths |
Among the myths that just won't go away is the one that the full moon exerts
effects on people - that crimes increase, babies all decide to emerge, women's
menses sync with it, psych wards go on hyperdrive, etc, etc, etc. The quoted passages below show some comments from a recent discussion on the hubpage site alleging these effects. Unfortunately minnetonkatwin, the author of that hubpage removes comments that disagree with her, so only comments that support her theory are left. The author has at least changed an earlier claim Here is a list of Fun Facts and intriguing effects of a full moon, per my research from "Scientific Magazine". This has now been changed to read Although research has not yet validated the 'Lunar Lunacy effect', this is a list of possible effects that have come from proponents of the theory. The same unsupported claims are still there, though, with references for NONE of them. Hold on as we plumb the depths of ignorance: | |||
Isn't it wonderful that people are not going to let FACTS or the absence thereof interfere with their belief systems. We're all entitled to our beliefs, but we're NOT all entitled to make up our own facts, and this is yet another example of the anti-intellectual, anti-science trend in the US in particular. Unfortunately, these people also vote, serve on juries and otherwise make decisions that affect all of us. In response to such comments about what effects a full moon might have on humans - these answers all come down to anecdotal evidence - in fact, there are few, if any, scientific studies that show any such effect. Remember too that the only difference between a full moon and a new or half moon is not the distance from the earth [which does have a global gravitational effect on tides] but how much of the sun's rays are reflected to the earth. and normal solar radiation far exceeds any tiny amount of reflected light from the moon. If there were an effect, we'd expect to see greater effects not during a full moon, but when the moon is closest to the earth. In reality, there is no evidence for either case, just anecdotal urban myths
What DOES seem to produce these tales is that in a police station or trauma center, on a busy night, someone will remark "Wow! we're busy, must be a full moon!." No one bothers to check.[ Quick! what's today's phase for the moon? ] Instead people later remember talking about the full moon, and that memory of a GUESS gets reinforced and later 'recalled' as the fact that there was a full moon. . My own admittedly anecdotal surveys confirm this - whenever anyone makes a 'must be a full moon' comment not meant as a joke, i ask them if they know what the current phase of the moon is - I have yet to have anyone give me a correct answer. Check http://www.skepdic.com/fullmoon.html for more details on the actual scientific studies. In terms of gravity's effects, gravitational power drops off as the square of distance. Do the mathand you'll discover the person next to you has a greater gravitational effect on you than the moon. In terms of astrology, your OB-GYN has a much greater gravitational effect on your newborn than all the 'planets' combined. Yet his/her name never appears in an astrological chart.
As for the original poster's claim of facts found in "Scientific Magazine." First, there's no such publication.Instead, if you search you can find real information such as these articles | |||
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