William J. Kole, Associated Press
A landmark study published in 1984 in the British Medical Journal examined the incidence of crimes reported to police from 1978-82 in three locations in India — one rural, one urban, one industrial — and found a spike in crime on full moon days compared to all other days.
But another study, done in Canada in 1998 by University of Saskatchewan researchers, looked at nearly 250,000 traffic accidents that caused property damage or nonfatal injuries over a nine-year period and found no relationship to the lunar phase.
Most scientists agree that at nearly 239,240 miles away, the moon is simply too distant — and human beings too small — for it to have any significant effect.
"There's no real reason why it should," said D. John Hillier, a professor of astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh who was not involved in the Austria study.
"It's often probably just cases of people remembering that there happened to be a full moon when something occurred," he said. "When nothing special happens, they tend not to notice what the moon is doing. So this selective memory just keeps the legend going."
