Wednesday, August 01, 2012

The Science of the Full Moon

By the time I finish this blog post, it should be exactly a full moon: 8:28:30pm, according to my iPhone app.

I am a very scientific thinker, yet I believe in the power of the full moon.  Why?

Scientists observe things carefully and try to draw correlations and conclusions. Some of them we can prove, some we can't. But I am really good at noticing and recognizing patterns, and that's where science starts: observation and pattern matching.

It is my observation that people are weird around the full moon, and more passionate, and more impulsive, and more romantic.

Does the moon cause this?

Not directly, as in gravitational pull or tides or anything like that. But we all see and experience the moon, and it affects us, like daisies or sunshine or the ocean. In that sense, yes, the full moon affects human behavior and makes us slightly crazy ... in a good way.

I will drive up windy Highway 84 tonight and try to see the moon at every opportunity, and I will think of my Mom, in Maine, who just finished doing the very same thing.  She loves the full moon.