« Avec ses caprices, la lune est comme une frivole amante ; elle sourit et se lamente, et vous fuit et vous importune... »
Théodore de BANVILLE (1823-1891)
The moon is a favourite topic of songs (Walking on the Moon by The Police), poems (Ballade à la lune by Alfred de Musset), books (De
I will not speak about Neil Armstrong and his first step on the moon, nor about NASA, or about the competition between the USA and Russia to be the first to land on the moon, etc., but about the moon’s affect on us...
A lot of scientists say that the moon can explain a lot of reactions that we have. For example, a French killer was called “The Moon Killer” because he killed people only during the full moon. During his trial, a few scientists defended the killer and said that it was because of the moon. Isn’t that weird?
Popular legend has it that the full moon brings out the worst in people: more violence, more suicides, more accidents, and more aggression. The influence of the moon on behaviour has been called "The Lunar Effect" or "The Transylvania Effect." The belief that the full moon causes mental disorders and strange behaviour was widespread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.
But, this “Lunar Effect” is not scientifically proven! In fact, like I said, it’s more a popular legend. The existence of a relationship between two "variables" does not mean that one variable causes the other variable. For example, if you looked for a relationship between the number of points scored by a basketball team and the number of books checked out of a library on different days, you might find a significant relationship. This doesn't mean that the score of basketball games causes people to check out library books or that checking out library books causes the basketball team to score more points. The reason why these two activities vary in a similar fashion is completely unknown and untested.
However few scientists are determined to prove that the “Lunar Effect” exists...
Here you have a website which gives you different correlations between the moon and our behaviour :
http://22etoiles.com/lune/humain.htm
Careful! Like I said, the “Lunar Effect” is not verified, so do not take this site as seriously scientific!
Although most experiments fail to show a relationship between the phases of the moon and abnormal behaviour, the belief in the "lunar effect" is still strong among many people. the occasional newspaper story that describes strange behaviour during a full moon only reinforces this myth...
I myself don’t sleep very well these days... Do you think it’s because of the moon?!
Article by Marylou H.
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