flower image by Marco Sellini , Italy, and full Moon is from Elias Chasiotis, Greece

Female lemurs come into heat and mate near full Moon. Ugandan mayflys congregate in great breeding swarms at the same full phase. Many gardeners all over the world plant crops according to phases of the Moon. Hormone secretion in human males follow a lunar cycle. And nurses and policmen seem to agree that emergency rooms are busiest when the Moon is full. These New Age-ish claims may be true, but there are often other studies than suggest otherwise. Much larger possible dependencies of life on the Moon have been suggested by astronomers. It has been proposed that our relatively large Moon in its near equatorial orbit has stabilized the excursions of Earth’s orbital inclinations and eccentricities, moderating climate extremes. And the Moon is credited with protecting the Earth from large impact events that are hazardous to life. Without the Moon the Earth would rotate much faster, perhaps in 9-10 hrs like Jupiter and Saturn and we might have similar strong winds, making life more precarious. And without the Moon, LPOD wouldn’t exist.

Chuck Wood

Related Links:
What if the Moon didn’t exist?
Full Moons by Paul Katzeff (1981).