Full Moon Madness

[robinson]

I challenge your claim, Robinson.

What claim are you talking about?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

What claim are you talking about?

That those news accounts are based in fact, and the bleeding more during full Moons.

 

[robinson]

I didn't make those claims. That is obvious from reading what I wrote. I'm gathering up a bunch of links on this, but again, I can find no published data for any of the claims made.

Can you find any published data showing there is no connection between the moon and crime? Its easy to say something, but finding evidence, that is another matter.

But again, in matters this obvious, there is a wealth of data, and with computers, it is easy to connect data and the phase of the moon. This is one of those issues that can be resolved.

 

[Big Les]

Are you familiar with the expression "burden of proof is on the claimant"? Or in this case, the person supporting them. It would go against known science for the moon to have such an effect, therefore evidence needs to be supplied. Even if you choose not to back your tacit support of the claims of others, you can't simply insist that we prove it wrong. It doesn't work that way.

There is simply no reason to accept what's being claimed in the article. It's based on confirmation bias and anecdote only.

 

[robinson]

Are you familiar with the expression "burden of proof is on the claimant"? Or in this case, the person supporting them.

Being condescending could be considered dumb. Like asking if you are familiar with the English language. A better tack is to provide information and stuff. I know, I know, it isn't as much fun, and it takes work and all that, but in the long run, it pays off better. IMNSHO of course.

It would go against known science for the moon to have such an effect, therefore evidence needs to be supplied.

What effect are you talking about? What known science? See? When you make a claim like that, as you said, the burden of proof is on you. What studies, science, whatever, what leads you to believe the moon has no effect at all on living organisms? Or perhaps, just human behavior? The extra light at night is an obvious reason for changes in crime patterns. It was noted that burglaries of occupied dwellings decreased during a full moon. Obviously this is connected to the light levels.

Most studies on crime cycles found the day of the week and weather to be a large factor in trends. What is surprising, is when data is fed into a computer system, clusters appear. Even more surprising, these clusters are associated with lunar phases. Not just the full moon, the new moon also appears as a factor. Strange, but there it is.

Now, something like that seems to be a great situation where science can simply tell if this is true or not. The data isn't going away, or changing, and there is lots of it around.

There is simply no reason to accept what's being claimed in the article. It's based on confirmation bias and anecdote only.

What article are you talking about? I like discussing stuff, but it isn't clear what you are referring to.

 

[tek]

What effect are you talking about? What known science? See? When you make a claim like that, as you said, the burden of proof is on you. What studies, science, whatever, what leads you to believe the moon has no effect at all on living organisms?

I think the point is, there's no reason to believe based on basic scientific knowledge of lunar cycles and psychology that the phase of the moon would have anything to do with how we act. If I said the speed at which my toenails grow is dependant on how many French speakers I meet in a day, you would require me to provide you with pretty compelling evidence, and I wouldn't get out of it by saying "well, what evidence do you have the two AREN'T related?" Saying two seemingly unrelated things are correlated is a claim; saying they aren't usually isn't.

I agree though, information is illuminating. The very first thing when I google searched for "lunar cycle crime" is someone's lab report:
jrscience. wcp.muohio. edu/nsfall00/FinalArticles/THEREALFinal2.CriminalAct.html

Apparently, through our research and analysis of data, we have found that there is no correlation between criminal activity and the lunar cycle, at least not in Oxford and Hamilton.

No shocker there.

 

[Jeff Corey]

As is the case with almost everything published on the Internets, the raw data isn't available, just the conclusions. You claim "I do know a lot about the design and proper interpretation of such studies", which would be quite cool, if it is true.

So, because such a study is easy to do, based on evidence actually being available, and abundant, what would be the design, that would stand up to your 'proper interpretation'? I'm not being funny, (I know, it sounds like it, but I'm not, really).

You have data, (hospital admissions, emergency room treatments, police logs, prison logs, jail logs, etc), and you have the phases of the moon. Both of these go back a long time, and they exist all over the world.

What would be the procedure for looking at this issue? I mean, it doesn't sound that difficult a problem. You compare numbers with dates. What would be the problem? The studies that claim there is no correlation don't provide their data either, so what does proper interpretation mean here?

What needs to be done to prevent any bias or errors? And if the data was available, could you do a study on it that would stand up to peer review? Or even better, make it so anyone looking at the data could see for themselves the truth of the matter?




I'm a skeptic. I like to see evidence before I make up my mind. Something like the full moon and crime, it is an obvious issue that could be researched based on evidence.

As I said before, an expensive study was done to determine WHY there was more crime on or near the full moon. They found it was the ability to see at night, because of the extra light, led to more criminal activity on nights where there was a full moon.

And no, they didn't publish the data. They concluded it was the extra light of the moon helping criminals commit crimes. The study was not to see if there was more crime, it was to find out WHY there was more crime.

A police log and a moon chart can show the relationship between crime and the moon. What I think is funny, is that some people think it is the moon causing the crime. And that some people think there is no correlation between the phase of the moon, and crime.

While researching this, I was surprised that there is a connection to bleeding after surgery and the moon phase. This was based on a scientific study, which set out to prove there was no connection. That can't be explained by extra light at night. And again, the data is not published.

Too bad Randi doesn't include this in the $MDC. But even Randi knows better than making that claim. It is too easy to prove.

I have read scores of correlational studies that have shown no significant positive correlation between the full moon and any deviant or criminal behavior. This, in spite of publication bias of major journals against negative results. The Skeptical Inquirer has published a number over the years. Some references may be found at http://skepdic.com/fullmoon.html
And we are still waiting for a reference from you.

 

[robinson]

I have read scores of correlational[sic] studies that have shown no significant positive correlation between the full moon and any deviant or criminal behavior.

Can you provide any evidence for your claim? heh

I asked this before, but what they heck. What do you accept as evidence? Is a webpage evidence? Is a website saying something, does that make it true to you? Because that is about all we are going to get here, is stuff published on the web. Right?

I asked you a bunch of stuff about studies, because you said you knew about them.

What would be the procedure for looking at this issue? I mean, it doesn't sound that difficult a problem. You compare numbers with dates. What would be the problem? The studies that claim there is no correlation don't provide their data either, so what does proper interpretation mean here?

What needs to be done to prevent any bias or errors? And if the data was available, could you do a study on it that would stand up to peer review? Or even better, make it so anyone looking at the data could see for themselves the truth of the matter?


I found a few publications that sort of list the data they used. Interesting stuff. Especially these two, both about dog bites and the lunar cycle.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7276/1559

Results: The incidence of animal bites rose significantly at the time of a full moon. With the period of the full moon as the reference period, the incidence rate ratio of the bites for all other periods of the lunar cycle was significantly lower (P <0.001).
Conclusions: The full moon is associated with a significant increase in animal bites to humans.

More at the link, including graphics and stuff.

Then this one, again about dog bites and the lunar cycle.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmj;321/7276/1561

Results: 12 peak clusters of admissions were unrelated to the time of the full moon.
Conclusion: Dog bites are no more frequent on full moons than at any other time of the month. Sceptics rejoice.

Now of the two, the second one is far more interesting. It includes data and graphics as well. What I found so interesting, was the graph they presented.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7276/1561/F1 You can look at it for yourself. I found it interesting, because of what they didn't note. I did a little edit on it,stretching it out a little, and adding some data. There was no change to the information at all. I just made it obvious what I saw from looking at the data.

Isn't that strange? While the authors claim full moon and dog bites are not connected, (which is obvious), they seem to miss the other obvious thing. They seem to be connected to the new moon. Which is just as strange. That there is an obvious statistical connection is so weird.

I got a bunch of other stuff, but I'm in no hurry, still doing research. There is a lot of stuff on this. Finding actual data isn't as easy.

And we are still waiting for a reference from you.

No, no you are not.

But I'm still waiting on you.

 

[robinson]

A couple more interesting links.

This one defies logic, and I thought was interesting because it wasn't a study, but an effect noted after just running data on a program.

EMFS began using CRM 3.0 in April, in conjuction with Aspective, a public sector software specialist. Speaking on Wednesday, company representatives revealed that EMFS — which organises medical cover for the police across Essex, Suffolk, Cambridge and Bedfordshire — has discovered some unusual facts.

According to Steve Roberts, commercial director with EMFS, the peak times for demand for medics are "Friday and Saturday nights, as you would expect but we find that volume goes up at the full moon, which we didn't expect."

But the ability to plan, even for the full moon, is, a big plus in using CRM 3.0, says Roberts. EMFS has been in existence for just a year, and was set up as part of the Government's plans to privatise non-core services such as medical care for people in police custody. It supplies doctors, nurses and other medical personnel when required.

"When the police arranged medical care they only had to guarantee getting someone to see a prisoner within 12 hours," says Roberts. "Our contract says we have to do it in one hour, or two if special medication is required."

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39237558,00.htm

Is that strange?

 

[robinson]

This one is cool, because of the graphs.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-244X-3-20.pdf

Again, the connection is obvious from the graphics. And, rather than show only a full moon effect, it is obvious that the new moon was a factor. Related studies involving estrus cycles and hormones explains a lot of the findings. And the sex difference is revealing.

There are a lot more studies, but I can't copy and paste them here because they are pay sites. Still, I have about a hundred more studies bookmarked at this point.

 

[robinson]

And before I get accused of cherry picking, half of them are studies showing there is NO connection between lunar cycles and crime, pregnancy, ovuluation, mental illness, accidents, cancer, suicide, death and a dozen other things.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm not buying your matching new Moons to that crude version of graphed data analysis, robinson. I read the researchers' analysis in the full paper and there was no such correlation found, nor was it overlooked.

Comparison of hospital admissions by day of the week is shown in figure 2. Mean daily admissions peaked at weekends (5.5 for Saturday, 5.6 for Sunday), and the number of admissions on weekdays ranged from 4.1 to 4.9, forming overall a U shaped distribution from Sunday to Saturday with the trough occurring on Wednesday. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday the mean number of admissions was substantially higher when a full moon occurred; on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday the mean number of admissions was substantially lower when a full moon occurred; and on Friday the mean was closely similar. This would be an expected result if dog bite admissions occurred randomly with respect to full moons. Overall, full moon days were associated with slightly lower mean admissions (4.6 compared with 4.8 per day).

I think you are stretching the actual research results to try to extrapolate a conclusion from such a crude analysis as you've done there.

There are two things here. First, if you are assuming these studies haven't been done, that is contradicted by merely looking at the references cited in these two BMJ studies alone.

Second, this is an excellent study in why single studies are always subject to some kind of research error, whether it be random clustering as is seen in cancer studies, or poor methodology and fitting the data to the conclusions rather than vice versa which is all too common in research.

Third, it isn't "half" the studies that show no effect. It is the overwhelming majority of studies. I went through just the abstracts available through links from the two BMJ articles. I found it interesting that the study which found a correlation with dog bite ED visits and the lunar cycle cited a number of studies with very ambiguous results that suggested to me poorly done research.

The study that found no correlation cited research that was on the whole more clean. In other words they either found an effect (in a couple of cases) or they didn't, (the vast majority of the research). Compare those abstracts to three cited by the first researchers which reported looking at a number of variables and seemed to find correlations here and there. Those abstracts are what you might find if you took the ED visits and started looking for anything that correlated to them. Such an approach if that's what they did is flawed research for reasons I won't get into here since I've already taken enough time.

I'm convinced the evidence supports the Moon having little to no effect on these particular variables. Since there are animals who do have reproductive cycles timed to take advantage of the light of the full Moon, I won't rule out the possibility of some effects eventually being found.

OTOH, the hypotheses claiming this phenomenon if it did exist is somehow due to gravity pulling on the liquid in our bodies, I dismiss based on the absurdity of the physics involved. (See Phil Plait's BA website for debunking that myth.) If there is any effect to be found, some circadian rhythm of hormonal influence is the hypothesis I would be looking at. And you can look at this obvious observation.

Flaw in studies hypothesized

In this report, the established timing of terrestrial tidal gravity fluxes is examined to assess the role of the full moon per se in modern gravitational lunacy theory. The results show that the principal tidal gravity fluxes are semidiurnal, with lesser diurnal and even smaller fortnightly components. There are no uniquely monthly components that would correspond to the period of the full moon. This means that the gravitational effects of the new moon are equivalent to those of the full moon. Furthermore, the gravitational effects associated with the times of high tide are even greater than those associated with the moon phases. Using the technique of reductio ad absurdum, I suggest that lunacy effects, if indeed there are any, should occur twice each day (high tides) but should be more pronounced during the new moon and full moon (spring tides). On the basis of this analysis, I would recommend that all studies that have compared hospital records with the full moon be redone to coincide with the proper timing as found in this report.

So here for your viewing pleasure, sorted by effect 'found or not', are the abstracts from "dog bites are correlated" and "dog bites are not correlated".

No effect found

The influence of the moon on patient consultations for anxiety or depression in general practice was assessed through a retrospective survey based on general practice medical records and on lunar records detailing the dates and times of different phases of the moon. Seven-hundred-eighty-two patients continuously registered in a general practice in Beckenham, South London, between 1971 and 1988 were included in analyses. No statistically significant lunar effect was found by setting the expected surge in consultations one to three days after the full moon and the period of the sine-wave curve to 30 days. Similarly, no statistically significant lunar effect was found, when the period of the sine-wave curve was allowed to vary in order to best fit the data. The moon had little influence on when individuals consulted their general practitioner with anxiety or depression.

No effect found

OBJECTIVE: It is commonly believed that the full moon exerts an influence on violence and aggression in psychiatric settings. The literature to date is contentious. This study used a robust methodology to examine the hypothesis that there was an increased frequency of violent and aggressive behaviour among hospitalised psychiatric clients at the time of the full moon. METHOD: Prospective data were collected in five inpatient psychiatric settings across the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. Morrison's hierarchy of violence and aggression was used to rate behaviour. Lunar phases were clearly defined and Poisson regression used to examine relationships between lunar phase and violence. Extraneous temporal variation was considered. RESULTS: No significant relationship was found between total violence and aggression or level of violence and aggression and any phase of the moon. CONCLUSION: Future research could profitably examine the implications of a belief in the lunar effect among health workers in the face of evidence that no relationship exists between violence, aggression and the lunar cycle.

No effect found

An analysis of 383 cases of attempted suicide presented to the Accident and Emergency Department during 12 complete lunar cycles (one year) gave no support for an association between attempted suicide and the lunar cycle, especially the full moon. No control for weekends or holidays was made.

No effect found

This study examined the effect of the full moon on agitation manifested by nursing home residents (N = 24). Observations of agitation were recorded on a behavioral mapping instrument, and occurrence of the full moon was operationalized in the three ways most commonly cited in the literature. The hypothesis that elderly nursing home residents become increasingly agitated during a full moon was not supported by this study. In all analyses, agitation was observed less often when the full moon was full than during the other three lunar phases, although differences were not statistically significant.

No effect found

Nine years of traffic accidents involving damage to property (n = 246,926 accidents) and involving nonfatal injury (n = 50,492) in Saskatchewan were examined by regression and spectral analyses. Both calendar and seasonal periodicities were found in both sets of data. After data were adjusted for calendar effects, no relationship was found with the total or half synodic and anomalistic lunar cycles or between the waxing and waning synodic cycle. No sudden change on the day of the full moon or surrounding days was found.

No effect found

There exists a popular belief in the causal relationship between the moon's phase and the incidence of major trauma. In this retrospective study we reviewed 1,444 trauma victims admitted to the hospital during one calendar year. Full moons were defined as three-day periods in the 29.531-day lunar cycle, with the middle day being described in the world almanac as the full moon. Victims of violence included those patients sustaining blunt assault, gunshot wounds, and stabbings. There was no statistical difference in number of trauma admissions between the full moon, 129 patients per 36 days (mean, 3.58), and nonfull moon days, 1,315 patients per 330 days (mean, 3.98). Mortality rate, 5.4% versus 10.3%; mean Injury Severity Score, 13 versus 15; and mean length of stay, ten versus 12 days, were not significantly different during the full moon and nonfull moon days. Victims of violence were admitted at a similar frequency on full moon, 16 patients per 36 days (mean, 0.444), and nonfull moon days, 183 patients per 330 days (mean, 0.555). We conclude that the belief in the deleterious effects of the full moon on major trauma is statistically unfounded.

No effect found

To determine if there is any effect of the full moon on emergency department (ED) patient volume, ambulance runs, admissions, or admissions to a monitored unit, a retrospective analysis of the hospital electronic records of all patients seen in an ED during a 4-year period was conducted in an ED of a suburban community hospital. A full moon occurred 49 times during the study period. There were 150,999 patient visits to the ED during the study period, of which 34,649 patients arrived by ambulance. A total of 35,087 patients was admitted to the hospital and 11,278 patients were admitted to a monitored unit. No significant differences were found in total patient visits, ambulance runs, admissions to the hospital, or admissions to a monitored unit on days of the full moon. The occurrence of a full moon has no effect on ED patient volume, ambulance runs, admissions, or admissions to a monitored unit.

Opposite effect found

Data on five aggressive and/or violent human behaviors were examined by computer to determine whether a relationship exists between the lunar syndoic cycle and human aggression. Homicides, suicides, fatal traffic accidents, aggravated assaults and psychiatric emergency room visits occurring in Dade County, Florida all show lunar periodicities. Homicides and aggravated assaults demonstrate statistically significant clustering of cases around full moon. Psychiatric emergency room visits cluster around first quarter and shows a significantly decreased frequency around new and full moon. The suicide curve shows correlations with both aggravated assaults and fatal traffic accidents, suggesting a self-destructive component for each of these behaviors. The existence of a biological rhythm of human aggression which resonates with the lunar synodic cycle is postulated.

No effect found

This study assessed the relationship between the phase of the full moon and the incidence of overdose as reported in five metropolitan Phoenix hospitals and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner over the 15-mo. period from January 1, 1976, through and including March 31, 1977. A chi-squared analysis was performed and no significant difference between the distribution of cases occurring during the full moon phase and that outside of these periods was found.

???? effect found

BACKGROUND. As far as the author is aware no statistics of traffic accidents were so far concerned with the problem of a possible correlation of their frequency with the position of the moon, i.e. the lunar phase. Sudden cardiovascular deaths and some meteorological parameters (mean precipitation, atmospheric pressure and temperature) have this correlation and in most instances it is highly significant. METHODS AND RESULTS. The authors processed data pertaining to a total of 60,142 traffic accidents in the former South Moravian region in 1983, 1984, 1990, 1991 and 1992. The number of accidents on every particular day was classified according to the lunar phase. It was revealed that the frequency of accidents increases twice in the course of the lunar cycle (i.e. in the semilunar stages). The first increase is on the second and third day following new moon (t = 1.89 < 1.96 which is closely beneath the 5% level of statistical significance, p > 0.05). The second increase is more prolonged and more marked and starts already on the first day before full moon and persists after full moon with a maximum on the second day after full moon (t = 1.32 < 1.96, which again is beneath the 5% level of statistical significance, p > 0.05). The curve of the frequency of traffic accidents follows practically the same course as the curve of changes of atmospheric precipitation except for the day before full moon and the day after full moon. CONCLUSIONS. The revealed semilunar increase of traffic accidents is probably associated with the bi-phasic change of atmospheric precipitations with their increase closely after new moon and after full moon. However, one day before full moon the atmospheric precipitation is low and the increase in the accident rate on these days might be explained by the effect on the human factor, i.e. psychosomatic changes during the period near the full moon.

????? effect found

OBJECTIVE: To point out the influence of the lunar position on the distribution of deliveries. METHODS: We examined all the full-term spontaneous deliveries that occurred at the Civil Hospital in Fano (March) throughout 24 synodic months in a 2-year period (1993-1994). In order to perform the statistical analysis, each delivery was considered as a single measure. We used techniques of circular statistics to execute data analysis. RESULTS: A significant relationship between lunar position and distribution of deliveries was pointed out in multigravidae (in detail, the deliveries resulted clustered around the full moon phase). On the contrary, no significant relation was observed in primigravidae. CONCLUSIONS: The observed results evidence a significant influence of the position of the moon on the distribution of deliveries, especially in multigravidae.

????? effect found

BACKGROUND: Violence is an urgent problem concerning society as a whole. If chronobiological changes of human aggressiveness existed, it would be possible to foresee them and when an increased incidence is expected it would be perhaps possible to use preventive measures. METHODS AND RESULTS: The author processed data on 2447 aggressive acts of violence and 1028 completed suicides (aggression against oneself) on the territory of the former South Moravian region according to a weekly, annual and lunar rhythm and in relation to sudden climatic changes. The most remarkable finding is that the impulsive bodily harm (usually without economic or sexual motivation) is very closely associated with sudden climatic changes, while burglary and rape do not depend on climatic changes and their frequency correlates with the semilunar rhythm (there are two peaks during lunation), similarly as the frequency of sudden cardiovascular deaths. In suicides the frequency changes, with certain exceptions, similarly as the incidence of impulsive intentional bodily assault. In general close to the phase of full moon aggressiveness is significantly reduced and not increased, as was and still is believed by mistake, based on few observations and impressions. CONCLUSIONS: The assessed periodicities differentiate types of aggressive behaviour, prove the possibility of prediction of an increase of the mean incidence and provide thus a basis for estimation of the time and type of increased aggressiveness. It is thus possible to introduce preventive measures.

????? effect found (looks like sloppy analysis to me)

Investigated the relationship between 2,344 cases of crisis incidence over a 1-year period (1976) and geophysical, climatic and seasonal conditions. Results revealed an intricate interactive effect between the variables of sex, nature of crisis, period of analysis, and environmental conditions. Males crisis became more likely, with downward economic trends or decreased solar activity. In contrast to female incidence of crisis, which peaked in spring, that of males peaked in autumn. Increased solar activity was related strongly to the incidence of crisis experienced by people who were retarded, abused drugs and were guilty of assault and/or rape. The waxing of the moon was related closely to cases of assault and/or rape, while retardates were influenced further by the moisture content in the air. Temporal considerations revealed a positive relationship between full moon and crisis incidence on alternate months only. Generally, the increased cloud cover, rainfall and temperature in summer, gave rise to more crisis consultations. Finally, geophysical, climatic and economic conditions also were seen to act in conjunction with each other to influence crisis incidence.

Effect found

The incidence of crimes reported to three police stations in different towns (one rural, one urban, one industrial) was studied to see if it varied with the day of the lunar cycle. The period of the study covered 1978-82. The incidence of crimes committed on full moon days was much higher than on all other days, new moon days, and seventh days after the full moon and new moon. A small peak in the incidence of crimes was observed on new moon days, but this was not significant when compared with crimes committed on other days. The incidence of crimes on equinox and solstice days did not differ significantly from those on other days, suggesting that the sun probably does not influence the incidence of crime. The increased incidence of crimes on full moon days may be due to "human tidal waves" caused by the gravitational pull of the moon.

Effect found

An analysis of calls to the Maryland Poison Center was performed to assess whether a relationship exists between the moon periods and poison exposure calls. A given period was defined as the day of the lunar event +/- 2 days. Thirteen lunar cycles in which 22,079 calls occurred were analyzed. A larger proportion of total calls to the center and unintentional poisoning calls occurred during the full moon period. A significantly larger number of unintentional poisonings occurred in the full moon period compared to suicide attempts and drug abuse which occurred most frequently during the new moon period. The lunar cycle had no effect on the distribution of victim's age or sex or the location of treatment.

Small effect found

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there are significant circadian, weekly or lunar variations in self-poisoning presentations and whether patients' names or dates of birth have an influence on the likelihood of self-poisoning by analysing biorhythms, numerology and star sign. SETTING: Hunter Valley, Australia. SUBJECTS: Consecutive adult patients admitted with self-poisoning between January 1987 and June 1993. RESULTS: There were 2215 patients admitted. There was a marked circadian variation. Over 6% of all admissions occurred in each of the hours between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. compared with less than 2% per hour between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. This pattern was not different for patients with a diagnosis of depression. Numerology, biorhythms and star signs had no significant correlations with self-poisoning, nor was there a significant weekly or yearly variation in presentations. There was a small but statistically significant sex difference in presentations analysed by lunar phases. At the new moon 60% of self-poisonings were in women, compared with 45% when the moon was full. The odds ratios (OR) for women to be admitted at full moon and at new moon were 1.27 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92-1.66; P value not significant) and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.57-0.92; P = 0.009) respectively. The mean illumination of the moon at the time of overdose was 50.63% +/- 0.91% for men, compared with 47.45% +/- 0.85% for women (P = 0.014). CONCLUSION: The circadian cycle (but not weekly, yearly or mystical cycles) should be taken into account when determining staffing levels for poison information and casualty services. The full moon is protective for women.

 

[robinson]

This one is cool, because of the graphs.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-244X-3-20.pdf

Again, the connection is obvious from the graphics. And, rather than show only a full moon effect, it is obvious that the new moon was a factor. Related studies involving estrus cycles and hormones explains a lot of the findings. And the sex difference is revealing.

I'm hoping Jeff will lend his considerable skills on this matter.

And on the report here-
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1...9237558,00.htm

Of course, like most of the reports/studies published, they don't provide the data, so it is difficult to tell how they came up with the result.



Skeptigirl,

I tend to ignore the gravity/tides theorizing, based on studies that show animals linked to the lunar cycle, fail to follow them when deprived of light from the moon. Obviously many organisms are influenced by moonlight. The gravity theory doesn't make any sense, as was pointed out long ago in this topic.

Why lunar phases would be connected to dog bites, crime, accidents or a host of other human behaviors is beyond me. That a lot of studies have found some connection, is obvious from a quick search. I don't know what the deal is, but I'm sure it os one of those things that can be found out.

A report like the one found here
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39237558,00.htm
is far stranger. I can't imagine why anyone would fake such information, or even mention it, if it was a hoax. Is it a hoax? No way to tell without looking at their data, which I doubt they will allow.

Is there a wealth of other data just like it? Yes. Could it be run through the same software? Yes.

Of all the silly things in the world, would would think this issue would be easy enough to settle. That there is a connection is obvious. What it means, and why it exist, that is another matter.

What? What connection? There is no connection!

Umm...yes..yes there is some connection. And while typing this, being funny about it, I just realized what the connection might be.

heh

But I am loathe to mention it. Must ..... do ... more ...research ...