Animals Bite More Often During a Full Moon:
The British Medical Journal published a study [December 23, 2000; 321:1559-1561] that closely examined patients who visited an accident and emergency hospital after being bitten by an animal. Dates of admission to the hospital for bites during a 3-year period were compared with lunar phases. The incidence of animal bites rose significantly at the time of the full moon. The study concluded that "the full moon is associated with a significant increase in animal bites to humans."
Pregnant Women Spontaneously Deliver More Often During a Full Moon:
The Italian Journal, Minerva Ginecol., published a study [March 1997; 49(3):91-94] that examined all full-term spontaneous deliveries (without mechanical or drug intervention) at the Civil Hospital in Fano during a two-year period. A significant relationship was found in multigravidae women (females who had one or more previous pregnancies): their deliveries clustered around the full moon.
Traffic Accidents Occur More Often During the Full Moon and New Moon:
The Czechoslovakian Journal, Cas Lek Cesk., published a study [October 10, 1994; 133(19):596-598] that examined more than 60,000 traffic accidents and compared them to phases of the moon. Accidents occurred most often starting on the first day before the full moon and persisting through the second day after the full moon. Accidents peaked again on the second and third days following the new moon.
Women's Menstrual Cycles Begin More Often During a New Moon:
The Scandinavian Journal, Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. published a study [1986;65(1):45-48] that found "a synchronous relationship between the menstrual cycle and lunar rhythm." Among 826 females with a normal menstrual cycle, aged between 16 and 25 years, more than 28 percent of all menstruations occurred around the new moon. (The proportion of menstruations at other times during the lunar month ranged between 8.5 and 12.6 percent.)
Crime Increases During a Full Moon:
The British Medical Journal (Clin Res Ed) published a study [December 22-29, 1984; 289(6460):1789-1791] that compared crime to the lunar cycle during a five-year period and found that "the incidence of crimes committed on full moon days was much higher than on all other days." The study postulated that this increase may be due to "human tidal waves" caused by the gravitational pull of the moon.
Accidental Poisonings Occur More Often During a Full Moon:
The Journal of Clinical Toxicology published a study [July 1983; 20(5):487-495] that analyzed more than 22,000 calls to a major metropolitan poison center and compared them to the lunar cycle. The study concluded that "a significantly larger number of unintentional poisonings occurred in the full moon period."
Human Aggression is Linked to the Lunar Cycle:
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry published a study [May 1978; 39(5):385-92] that found a statistically significant link between "lunar periodicities" and five aggressive and violent human behaviors: 1) homicides, 2) suicides, 3) fatal traffic accidents, 4) aggravated assaults, and 5) psychiatric emergency room visits. For example, homicides and aggravated assaults clustered around the full moon. Psychiatric emergency room visits clustered around the first quarter. The study postulated "the existence of a biological rhythm of human aggression which resonates with the lunar synodic cycle."
Traffic Accidents Occur More Often After the Eruption of a Solar Flare:
The New Scientist published research [April 25, 1968:160] presented at the Popov Radio Engineering and Electrical Communication Society by Dr. A. K. Podshibyakin that found a significant relationship between traffic accidents and solar activity. Statistics showed that the day after the eruption of a solar flare, traffic accidents increased, sometimes by as much as four times above the average! Podshibyakin also stated that human response times to stimulation tend to decrease during a solar flare.
Electrical Potential Emitted by the Body Fluctuates in Rhythm With the Phases of the Moon:
Psychiatry and Journal of Social Therapy published a study [July 1966] by Dr. Leonard J. Ravitz of Duke University in which he identified changes in the electrical potential emitted by the body in normal and insane people. He discovered that these changes coincide with phases of the Moon. Furthermore, the more disturbed the patients were, they more they were affected by the lunar rhythms.
Rats Are More Active When the Moon is Above the Horizon:
Science published a series of studies [December 4, 1959] in which Frank A. Brown, Professor of Biology at Northwestern University, offered substantial evidence that some cycles of animal behavior—our "biological clocks"—are linked to celestial rhythms. For example, a rat, under control conditions in a darkened cage, was twice as active when the moon was over the horizon than when it was beneath it.
Oysters Open and Close Their Shells in Rhythm to the Lunar Phases,
Not in Rhythm to the Physical Action of the Tides:
In another study by Frank A. Brown, Professor of Biology at Northwestern University, [Science; December 4, 1959], he took oysters from the Atlantic Ocean to Evanston, Illinois and placed them in specially prepared pans of salt water in a dark room. Within two weeks, the oysters adjusted their opening and closing rhythms to the lunar phases of Evanston, Illinois. This proved that it was the moon and not the motion of the water that triggered the oysters' cyclic activity.
Magnetic Storms in the Earth's Ionosphere—and Disturbances to Shortwave Radio Transmissions—Coincide with Planets in Conjunction (0 degrees apart), Square (90 degrees apart) and Opposition (180 degrees apart):
The RCA Review published technical research by John Henry Nelson entitled "Short Wave Radio Propagation Correlation with Planetary Positions" [March 1951; Vol.12:26-34] that documented periods when radio transmissions are likely to be disturbed. (One year later, Electrical Engineering also published Nelson's groundbreaking work [May 1952; Vol.71,No.5:421-424].) When Jupiter and Saturn—the Solar system's two largest planets—are in the same degree, 90 degrees apart, or 180 degrees apart, radio disturbances are severe. When these planets are 60 degrees apart or 120 degrees apart, radio transmissions are relatively free of magnetic disturbances. The author of the study was able to demonstrate an 85 percent accuracy in his forecasts when he combined his planetary research with signal analysis and sunspot observations. In 1961, Nelson presented his findings before a NATO ionosphere research conference, and in 1963, J. H. Clark of Press Wireless, Inc., improved upon Nelson's methods (up to 93 percent accuracy!) by including Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in his research.
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