It is also a frequent phenomenon that bright moonlight, around the full moon, makes problems to some people in getting to sleep

Moon is always related to human mind. The word lunacy, lunatic used in our literature seems to connect well. As mind works on electromagnetic waves of certain frequencies and moon also has the power of influencing tidal pattern etc, there could be some disturbance favorable or otherwise that may be created. Nature has always a positive role to play, but to mans' understanding it keeps varying. Astrologically children born on full moon and new moon, moon in exalted positions. have strong influence in their lifetime.

Q1: Our moon clearly has had a significant influence on the development of life on Earth. Asimov, I believe, wrote an entire book on the, ah, 'utility' of having a large satellite, from the perspective of the rise of life on Earth.

I am unable to comment on matters that are not in the realms of science, and so decline to comment on the role of the moon on people's 'positions' in life.

However, as this has been tagged with 'astrobiology', and as I used to work in an astrobiology group, may I add that it might be interesting to look at the extremum situations in which tides may be far more vigorous than they have been in Earth's past. Simply, can life arise on a world if it experience tidal forces that are barely lower than the Roche limit?

I suspect that they answer is 'yes'. Organisms on Earth regularly cope with extremes of desiccation and inundation. But comments are welcome.

In some scenarios for the origin of life in primitive Earth, tidal effects are important since they allow some environments to be alternatively wet and dry. This can favor chemical processes producing prebiotic molecules (see for instance Commeyras et al. 2002; Polym. Int. 51, 661–665).

A further beneficial effect that the presence of the Moon (a relatively big satellite) could have exerted on the development of life on our planet is the stabilization of the Earth orbital and orientation parameters. See this paper:

http://www.imcce.fr/Equipes/ASD/person/Laskar/misc_files/Laskar_Joutel_Robutel_1993.pdf

Indeed, the variation of orbital parameters could induce large and chaotic climate change, constituting a severe obstacle to the evolution of life.

Incidentally, the absence of such a "stabilizing satellite" could be one of the (indirect) cause of the mysterious evaporation of water from the former Mars oceans...

Ancients and also the present people still continue to perform religious rites and practices following the lunar calendar in various regions of the Earth.

To put it bluntly our scientists should examine more closely the type of Cosmic waves emanating from the moon and as to how it varies during a typical period of lunar month and its interaction with living things.

While scientists do understand the dire need of the stabilizing planet of the Earth that is the moon which is so nearby involving no light years; presents the picture of the present.

Its impact on Earth is a clear case of study on the aspects of plant life, human mind etc. The name lunar planet has not come out of accident. It is named with great intuition by someone and the society accepts it. The study of Mars just to know it has life organisms though a great pursuit; there is that moon staring day in day out, romantic to all the young hearts,, and our scientist look at with a stony silence

Moon and the mind is connected. and for all we know I personally think it holds the key for man to understand the unknown. Nature always give clues to man to understand it better, and what else is nearby to man's reach? Talking of stars, galaxies etc which are millions of light years away provide fascinating reading on the various observations made and man made hypothesis.

Just as man made satellite to connect us to space, the Moon can connect us to the unknown unlimited Space.

I have a feeling that the unknown and hidden and yet real electromagnetic waves are hiding in the gravitational force.

Its speed must be greater than light as in reality no stars like the Sun which rotate around the gravitational center of the galaxy and many light years away can sustain physically.

That is any stable body to sustain its position in space must be close to instantaneous relative time which all are aware of.

Perhaps, the very abundance of liquid water.

I agree that lunar phenomena deserve scientific analysis. That doesn't mean that Astrologers already possess the secret. All kinds of astrological hypotheses need to be scientifically validated.

Ancient astrologers were strong astronomers. Present day astrologers are mostly ignorant astronomers.

Science was prevalent practically from the birth of mankind, unfortunately most of the knowledge was passed on orally from teacher to student and the so called documents were written in rudimentary form like palm leaves, inscriptions etc, not amenable and understandable and available to the modern man.

The danger to the modern man is that is an event of a nuclear holocaust / virus due to unforeseen reasons can wipe out complete stored computer information and even knowledge base and the subsequent living beings have to start afresh, thinking that is the beginning.

Hence ancient knowledge need not be be considered as a taboo on science or literature. Proving all facts and deductions by science only is not the prerogative of a handful of scientists spread out in various disciplines. Most of the real life problems are interdisciplinary and would take ages for scientists to gather and come to a conclusion.e.g , even a single plant life from a to z.

For the common man the evolution of the universe is simply and beautifully told. The present space physics theories are beyond the grasp of the common man and the medium level scientists, and the hypotheses also keeps changing about the universe, The great scientists knows all these and their limitations. The reported matter from news letters address only superficial real information as headlines.

If fossil records can be believed man is not a very ancient animal. Aristotle, one of the greatest philosopher and scientist believed that crocodiles originated from wooden logs under water, worms from rotten material etc. Still we don't laugh at him. Science is progressing. There is no proof that some great science became extinct in the past.

Real true knowledge is that will stand the test of time that is past present and future.

After all ; all of us learn from reported literature the authenticity of which is left to the learner to discriminate. Belief of course plays a large part on the teacher who is sought, and books read etc. Finally our experience is the best teacher. Man's life is very short compared to the periods we are talking.

Finally all human beings are basically intelligent with the powers given by nature, and definitely my personal views expressed just for discussion and debate can never be claimed as correct and is only shared.

I do respect your views.

@ Sumodan:-

Thank you.

I have always been fascinated by a coconut tree . Long slender, very tall, roots not alarmingly big, can take up the severe wind loads, grows by itself towards sunlight, weaves a mat like structure as if one craftsman has weaved,picks up water to such great heights be it salty and gives purified mineral water, becomes mature coconut capable of giving oil and food,, has the isolating power namely the coir when thrown from great heights, and every part of it is useful to humanity.

Scientists mostly do research on the effects and manipulate plants etc like grafting,hybridization etc.Now when one looks at the cause, the intelligence and the mechanisms involved there are lot of things difficult to explain by experiments and present day scientific methods.

Taking the case of an atomic bomb the cause and effect is studied beautifully by scientists, But when it comes to living organisms to humans and the manner in which they are controlled is unexplained. Scientists with all the tools and knowledge gained so far has become a child in front of nature.

It is at this point the divide exists between man made modern theory that is prevalent now against the thoughts of the past.. If by chance due to ill luck a person does not know his roots from where he comes from is a miserable feeling and whatever he achieves as far as he is concerned is not fulfilling.

Hence there is a sect of people who look deeply at the cause who are deep thinkers versus persons who go about scientific research and it also requires tremendous intuition, sincerity and hard work. When any of these people transgress to the other side problems arise on each ones correctness.

Ancient literature is mainly to remind the overgrown mankind time and again that something superior is above all and is the cause of everything , and essentially makes man humble in his scientific pursuit.

Just now I watched a movie Angels and Demons. In that the newly elected pope tells the hero: "Religion is flawed because man is flawed. This one is also flawed". My question is who/what makes man flawed if there is somebody above regulating us all?

When a big person says things are flawed it does not mean the religion or man are anything for that matter is not great or not worth its merits.

Flaw is like a hairline crack or microscopic defect in a body or matter which can break catastrophically when its operating environment exceeds a threshold. Visually and knowledge wise it is beyond doubt the religions are man made but done with his utmost care and made sacred by him and specially pertaining to some higher force which religion asks us to worship.

The Pope is reminding the hero and also us that the means of worship which is man made cannot be beyond scrutiny and called perfect. In all the religions the Perfect Which is worshiped has remained elusive and in fact a challenge is given to man just as he is yet to understand the entire creation and its possibility of existence.

If we can answer how such a gigantic universe with all the stars galaxies etc are formed which are millions of light years away with our limited understanding; then in the same way we can understand Who is regulating us.

Still why is this done?

It is HIS OWN SWEET WILL. To fathom its depths all our inquiries and findings will be flawed. Religion is a discipline to make man to conduct himself well in society and at the same time reminding him about the Higher Power.

Religion is the means and not the end and as such from a higher standpoint is flawed.Only personal efforts of an individual can seek the Divine Force. Collectively man with his entourage cannot make a pilgrimage to the heavenly abode meaning the understanding of True Knowledge,

Human blood has iron and that makes Moon (due to gravity pull) influence the human life on Earth. One interesting explanation that I came across (of'course the details are missing) is that the ancient scientists of India (their science was based on mathematics and pure logic in contrast to present day experimental science) could calculate exactly as and when the rhesus factor of a person would be negative because the Moon during its elliptical orbit influences the blood of the human....the result was written in form -- that the person with negative blood group is 'Mangalik' and for caution a mangalik person should marry mangalik...we know that the persons having negative rhesus factor would have problem in child birth if it is from a person with positive rhesus factor.......I presume this science later got corrupted as Moon is receding from the Earth hence making the calculations go awry!!

Mahaveer,

"Human blood has iron and that makes Moon (due to gravity pull) influence the human life on Earth"

I fail to follow this reasoning.

Iron is affected by gravity just as equally as all matter is.

Can you please explain why iron is particularly affected by the moon?

Note, the extra force exerted on a human by the moon has a magnitude comparable to that of moving 10m vertically.

Thanks James and thanks for the information "the extra force exerted on a human by the moon has a magnitude comparable to that of moving 10m vertically". This varies a little taking the distance of the Moon from the Earth during its revolution.

Since Moon has no core (or very little) because of its timing of separation from the Earth, the magnetic effect due to Moon on humans is different than what it is due to Earth. Iron has a role to play anywhere it may be for a magnetic effect.

Mahaveer,

I'm doubly confused.

What possible magnetic effect can the moon have on anything on the Earth? The moon's magnetic field is vanishingly weak, easily 1000 times weaker than that of the Earth. Combined with the inverse *cube* force law for dipoles, and you have essentially no influence.

I am fully prepared to imagine that the cyclical gravitational influence, via tides and so on, has modulated and altered life on Earth to a certain extent, but its *magnetic* influence?

This is not credible.

I can more easily believe that the moon's *illumination* of the Earth has a larger influence.

May I ask for your reasoning behind the magnetic field of the moon being of significance?

@James Garry

gravitation and magnetic fields are really connected. electro- magnetic waves is really a part of gravity and gravity is the first perhaps in evolution. When in room space which looks empty we are able to simultaneously link with various outside agencies which are audible through different cell phones.

I am sure prior to a cell phone technology we all would not have agreed such a thing could happen. The greater beauty is that the environment allows such a thing to take place without any clashes in signals. All inventions have a natural link.

Sundaresan,

My recollection of Maxwell's equations shows no 'G' in them.

My recollection of the stress-energy tensor in GR has neither 'E' nor 'B' in it - except as a trivial contribution to total energy.

I really must object to this statement: "electro- magnetic waves is really a part of gravity"

This is simply not true.

If you think that it is, please suggest a derivation.

Your example of an empty room is specious - a careful thinker would simply say that not knowing how something is done is very different from knowing that something cannot be done. Or are you impressed with magic tricks with no obvious explanation?

We were discussing the alleged 'magnetic' affect of the moon on life on Earth. I still have had no evidence that this hypothesized influence is anything other than nonsense.

I was looking forward to a discussion of how cyclical gravitation may alter the evolution of creatures through the modulation of environmental effects such as tidal pools and so on.

@James

Definitely from a scientific standpoint as of now your views will be more correct than what I can understand, and your views are taken positively.

I had come across in one of the threads where some of the scientific community did express that there could be a link with gravity and electro magnetic waves while discussing the universe evolution related aspects.

As for as the room example was given as to how a person many decades back would have thought off against the present communication revolution.

I still hold and believe that the natural environment is friendly and tolerant and conducive to allow the present communication system to work, and what is the breaking point we do not know.

There could be lot of differences that could exist from persons who are well versed with the state of art based on proven facts and as such echo the present truth revealed by science as on date. But we must remember there are still differences existing in the scientific community and is never a one man's views or hypotheses that would eventually be real.

Our human brain works with the help of our mind which functions more than a computer, transmitter, receiver and communicative beyond measure and is very very subtle and still we are all trying to understand. It is beyond doubt that a mentally unbalanced person behaves much differently during the full moon and new moon. How our systems will behave under long duration gravity variations are yet to be studied conclusively. As man functions intelligently only through the mental plane, and as moon and mind has been connected from ages and the tidal waves being its outward expression, there is really lot of things to be studied than basking ourselves with the glory of the present day science.

The extract of my detailed explanation given to an identical query on the following page;

Additional comments are include at the end

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_a_planet_or_star_exist_without_rotating_on_its_axis?ev=tp_feed_post_xview

Extract:

"The lunar tidal influence is felt by Earth in the form of body tides as well as tides in seas and oceans. The tides in sea can influence the aquatic life near seashores due to the slight periodic change in the sea levels. However, I do not think that the biological life is directly effected by gravitational tidal force due to moon on life. This is due to our smaller physical dimensions over which the tidal influence can not be felt until and unless we are in a very strong gravitational field. In case you are standing in the vicinity of a black hole, the gravitational tidal force acting between your feet and head will stretch your body like a noodle until it is torn apart .

Most of the anticipated influences of moon on life are probably due to the moon light, in the form of lunar phases. For example, the coral reefs definitely respond to full moons.

See e.g.,

http://news.nationalgeographic.co.in/news/2007/10/071019-coral-spawning.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-10-19/study-shows-coral-spawn-on-full-moon/703510

There have been speculations on the correlation of lunar phase with humans. However, various studies conducted so far do not show any correlation.

See e.g.,

http://www.livescience.com/7899-moon-myths-truth-lunar-effects.html

"

Additional comments: Humans (specially farmers) as well as animals have a general tendency of exploit the nights around the full moon due to more illumination compared to the new moon nights. Except for those who have been living in big cities, surrounded by intense city lights, there would be preferentially more night activities during the full moon nights. The moon should not be directly held responsible for any accident and /or mood swings occurring during these full moon nights. This could be happing in big cities all the month, without any correlation with the lunar phase.

For all we know sometimes life would not have been possible without the moon's influence. In the ancient references cited it has been told that seeds germinated only by the help of the moon's light and its associated effects. We will have to wait for more time till perhaps modern science would one day throw better light. Till then most of us not used to believe mystic science will not accept till things are proven experimentally or through some wonderful mathematical equations devised by some genius scientist.

The funniest part in man is that he takes life for granted, never able to explain its cause and as to how it unfolds in various living species. The effects are well studied discretely and does provide us lot of insight, no doubt. But whenever the cause is discussed there has been no clarity.

But I must thank God and the society we live in ; have however not made worship also as a science with equations imbedded in it. Man is really playing a dual role now. The day he thinks the world is non-dual perhaps enlightenment will dawn just as Lord Buddha had experienced. When we are talking of celestial bodies in this thread I think my comments are not out of place.

Getting back to the original question. If the biochemical origins of life begin in ocean surfaces (they probably don't - this probably occurs at deep sea thermal vents) - you have an immediate problem if you want to form polymers from monomers. The concentration of monomers (amino acids) synthesized by chemistry (e.g. Miller-Urey experiment) is extremely dilute. An extremely dilute mixture is not going to have many random interactions.

4 Billion years ago the Moon was about 10 times closer to the Earth than it is currently and therefore tides would have been extreme (up to 1 km). Inland tidal lakes,

with this dilute mixture of monomers, could then evaporate and concentrate the monomers into the mud (silicate clays) that serves has a catalyze for monomers interacting to become polymers. This idea is called Clay Theory and a large nearby moon assists with providing a necessary concentration mechanism.

In one of the Upanishads the central theme has been that '" All living things are born of food, live in food and die as food".

Now this food being a bio chemical matter is very close to plant life. Even rice grains kept closed in a container devoid of any circulating air develops insects and small moth like beings that fly out when the container is opened. I think if we can understand the exact reason how plant life is sustained, and whether moon's light or its radiation plays a part has to be ascertained. Sun is the life giver while the moon sustains it.. Maybe when the suns radiation is not available to some parts of the Earth during daytime the moon helps all living beings. The human body and animals have the mind and brain concept and its functional requirement would be more than the air or oxygen we breathe.. In the coma state, even though the brain may look intact, oxygen alone cannot revive a living person.. In full darkness without light means death. We should think further.

Sundaresan....the explanation given for the insects popping out from the sealed containers is because of tiny eggs grown to developed individuals....the symbiosis takes care of the requirements for life that is energy from the host food and gases from mutual breathing etc.... If we want to put influence of Moon here then one of the explanations can be that it is reflected energy of the Sun being supplied by the Moon that helps in the growth of these insects....why I say this is because there is one appealing theory....had there been no Moon the Sun's strong energy added with harmful radiation could be detrimental to the origin of life on Earth but when Moon was added to the Earth it reflected the Sun's energy in a diluted form that triggered the origin of life!

@Mahaveer Sisodia ·

I also had this feeling when I expressed my views. Hence moonlight must be of paramount to sustaining life. The program of the universal order to give Earth a prominent aspect is not mere coincidence. The problem I am seeing that many answers have a escape route that billions of years of evolution have taken place etc, etc on tricky questions but modern science which has come of age just two centuries ago and is now defining the universe and its physical laws . The approach of the valuable past, is forgotten and I think we will be re-inventing the wheel in many areas which are considered unknown now.

@Manjunatha Sulur G

Man made disturbances like waste heat namely entropy generation, pollution electromagnetic radiations though give us many benefits have their harmful effects on which man will himself lobby against it.

Bot natures way of heat generation, magnetic influences sustain this world and life. No comparison between the two. Any inferences on Nature is associated with mystic science till it is uttered by some great scientists who are born to discover and enlighten people. Till then mostly not in ones lifetime many things will be understood and till then will make most of the debates not meaningful. But one should not give up his ideas arising from deep contemplation and sincere pursuit.

Here I share with you a recent paper of my own authorship, where it demonstrates that the probability of life tends to zero than to one and the moon is an important factor that influences life on earth.

Article Evolution through the stochastic dyadic Cantor Set: the uniq...

 @Diego Sebastian Mahecha · 

It was very thoughtful of you  allowing to read  your paper. The paper as such is very technical and involved and perhaps will be a trendsetter in the years to come. One can definitely understands the ways of nature by a diagnostic approach as we are  witnessing only infinitesimal period of time in a vast macro scale beyond human comprehension. Also the changes that have occurred in a lifetime or information from the nearest past generations that have been well documented are so small and invisible to ever get a proof of the models and theory we generate.

 If we imagine a case if mars  had a moon like planet around it, or if the moon were not there at all over the earth, then how will the results look should be seen provided it is a possible exercise.

The word chaos in scientific parlance seems to be more acceptable and holy than to call by the word  " order"  which would do justice to this meaningful creation. Dwelling on events which are  real  and cognizable by humans have no relation to probability as such as  all meaningful matter have  a definite science embedded in it.  Probability exercise is only a diagnostic approach which can show trends from which we can understand. No problems in it and is well done. We should explain the high and low tides from a model and the changes in chemistry exerted by moon's influence if any to show the definite impact of moon on earths matter living of course.

Dear James

I would be grateful if you can elaborate on "Why human females only (except the shrew; this is possibly a chance occurrence and any way some human females have been compared to The Shrew, as in Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare) have menstrual periods that are same as the Lunar cycle.

I presume you know about it since you have worked in Astrobiology

Narayanan

Dear George

Of course, George. Our calculation of months is essentially based on Lunar cycle; with appropriate modifications to tally with revolution period of Earth.

But this is human determined.

The menstrual period is not humanly determined. I am just asking for more info and opinion whether it is really related to Lunar cycle as only Humans have this period (except for, as mentioned, the shrew. May be Shakespeare meant such women in whom moon decided the menstrual period! ;-)

Narayanan

Narayanan,

"I presume you know about it since you have worked in Astrobiology"

I studied the degradation processes of amino acids under cosmic conditions - to speculate about why humans females have approximately monthly menstrual cycles is outside my realm of direct knowledge.

But what I *do* know is that the 'fit' is very poor. The word 'cycle' implies regularity and constancy of amplitude - neither of which I have seen at second hand.

(rather than 'tick tick tick, tick', 'tick TICK        tick              TICK' is also quite common)

I might hypothesize that early mammals would have retained some aspect of their biochemistry from partially ocean-dwelling lifeforms - for which the tidal ebb would have been important.

Or it might just be pure coincidence. I do not know for sure.

Dear James,

I'd like to help, but unfortunately, I don't know any things in this field. My research works focused on industrial membrane separation processes (in chemical plants).

Sincerely yours

Hamidreza

Even though as a  first and fast response from all those who are aware of science will tend to disagree with the view that moon's cyclic changes has an influence  in all  life matter. But there has been a  definite and strong concept in vedic- scientific  literature that even seeds do not sprout to life without the aid of moonlight. The human  mind that is sensitive and weak is also influenced by the full moon. The word lunacy has not come without meaning. As mind is the creating aid or the tool for any creation and the root cause; there should be a link in the whole thing we are talking about.

There is a definite difference between sunlight and moonlight ant the potency of the associated radiations from the sources. If sunlight can  help to cure rickets or reduce jaundice symptoms in new born babies, likewise moon would have its own effects. It is common belief that during eclipses the foetal quality can be hampered as surmised by certain traditional people, and  there is definitely a scope of research value or scientific content. Radiation or electromagnetic waves and gravity effects though look subtle in a moonlit environment is far from being inert.

Practically every living  and non living are subjected to some form of periodicity and cyclic  influences with different wave parameters  simple and complex , but a broad cyclic pattern does exist to understand at least grossly of any system. As this involves life and matter it is a new science just as the human body is still being a very great mystery wherein many fundamental issues  are still not answered related to its source  ie, life and its design.

Dear James

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

As regards the cycle, 28 days is the usual period. Biology is not Physics, and that exactness is not expected.

Your suggestion that it is an evolutionary relic of from sea dwelling period is a good one that I have not come across previously. That is the spirit of Astrobiology, ability to think in a cosmic scale. But the curious aspect again appears: Why humans have retained this, or rather why did it reappear in humans? What is the special place of the human being?

Narayanan

Narayanan,

Many other apes, not just humans, share this periodicity.

In other mammals the cycle time varies from 4 days (dog) to 55 days (lion) and so I don't find it too implausible that pure chance give rise to the (seeming) match between the lunar cycle and the human menstrual cycle.

>What is the special place of the human being?

I don't think that humans are very special - orangutans match the lunar clock better than we do - so I cannot draw any conclusions about human preeminence.

Dear James

If you take the Lunar cycle as the period of revolution of moon around earth, yes you are right. But Lunar cycle can also refer to cycling of the moon through the Zodiac mansions (ie 28 mansions reflecting the movement of the Moon through a sidereal month rather than the Sun in a solar year), then the cycle (27+ days) comes almost same as human menstrual period. This is the way we do our Astrology.

Narayanan

Dear James

I wanted to add something more to my answer.

The Ancients in India followed a Lunar calendar where in one month is the time taken by the moon to move from one lunar mansion to the next, which is 27.34 days or around 28 days

The menstrual cycle of a woman is quoted as 28 days, but with individual variations. If you take the exact time of the day too, it may also be 27. 34 days. Variations would have been lesser in the remote past because of lesser variations in food consumption, pollution, etc.

Please note that NONE of the animals that you mention has menstrual cycle. They all have estrous cycle which is quite different, the main thing being that there is no bleeding. Some primates have this as well as shrews and bats. Here please note that women have been compared to shrews (Shakespeares Taming of the Shrew) and to bats (batty old woman).

Please note another thing about Lunar cycle and Humans: The intrauterine period of humans is 280 days ie 10 Lunar months. Again no other animal has this.

In short Humans are the only animals in whom ovulation occurs one a Moon, and gestation last 10 Moons.

In India we celebrate when a person attains age of 1000 moons!

The ancients may not have been technologically weak; but they were good at seeing fores as a forest and not tress, and finding patterns.

I do not think that the above two are related to any direct effect of the moon; it is something else, what I am not sure.

It would be good if an Astrobiologist is aware of these 'quaint' things; just file them in a corner of the mind!.

There are other hings that I can mention, but defer since it may just bore everyone!

Narayanan

Without the moon there would be no or only primitive life on Earth. The moon stabilizes the axis and rotation and brings some movement to the sea, wind, etc.. It would be a disaster if the north pole would not be stable and would come all 10 years to spain or portugal. There would be no trees no plants, no mammals.

The effect of the degree of sunlight reflexion is only of very minor importance.

All the planetary influence including MOON play a major part in the overall influence on our nature.Nature is holy ,directed

connected with our MOTHER EARTH & we know & also we are witnessing how the nature & our MOTHER EARTH have to shade tears

due to human beings fail to understand the beauty ,feelings,calmness ,& coolness of the moon as MOON has an indirect influence

on our mind .

The influence of MOON is related to our brain ,our basic nature,our temperanment ,our beauty or otherwise of the within

have the corelation with the moon & as such the influence of the Moon on the nature on our MOTHER EARTH & on entire

human beings can be under estimated .

This is my personal opinion

Without the moon would miss the poetry of many beautiful poems :-))

And poetry to life certainly belongs.

Dear sirs.

This is interesting. 

I'm interested in finding the link between pragmatism and emotions, and the moon cycles offer us exactly that.

I have been analysing dear Narayanan's pragmatic answer to the link between women's menstrual cycle and the cycle of the moon. Indeed quite acurate in his analysis.

I have spent much of my academic life to the study of the human Endometrium .

Surprisingly, even if the uterus has always been and still is the subject of scientific research and the most widely subjected to medical management (the cesarian section was the earliest human surgical intervention ever performed and is still the most widely performed to our days...), surprisingly, there are still inumerous scientific data about the female genital system that remain unresolved.

The relation between the moon cycle and human female menstrual cycle is a good example of those unresolved (mysterious) problems...

Would you find a scientifical explanation to the fact that there is an increase of natural births on full moon nights?

Would you find a reasonable scientific explanation to the fact that when you bring women close together, as in prison cells or religious monasteries, they will tend to adapt their menstrual cycles to the same week of the month ? 

(One nearly-scientific hypothesis I read, tells me that primitive cave-humanoids would preferably leave their women to go hunting on full-moon nights, every month, to benefit from the natural moonlight to improve their hunting sight.

In this sense, and as a consequence, humanoid females may have adapted their primitive mammal estrous cycling to menstruate during their mates' absence... thus, ovulation would occur on New moon phase, when the male humanoids would stay home to rest. This enhanced our primitive instinct to maintain our species.

As much as this analysis may fail to be accurate in some points, it might explain why in fact, as Narayanan well pointed out, that female humans are the only mammals that have monthly regular menstrual cycling, adapting their hormonal levels to the 28 day cycling of the moon.

Most other mammals, such as the rat, will adapt their hormonal erstrous cycle to the proximity of males, through the effect of Pheromones.

Dear All 

A lot of scientific discussions has occurred on the influence of the moon, on the life on earth. Madam Maria has very nicely associated some biological characteristics of feminity with the phases and cycles of the moon.

I would rather like to prefer the poetic beauty, calendar value, and the neighbourhood effect on the people living on a large but lonely surface of the earth.

Moreover, the moon makes the darkness of the nights so allusively beautiful that man starts dreaming and imagining... 

Regards

Moon has influenced other faculties of life.

Full moon is an entity which is cherished by many well known poets, from time immemorial.

We would love to have moon light dinner !!! No problem if power goes off!!!

Moon light is not scorching , is always soothing!!!

Anyone interested, in alternate views on this, may go through my article

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304070804_HOW_PLANETS_INFLUENCE_HUMAN_GROWTH_AND_DEVELOPMENT

uploaded in RG

Narayanan

Article HOW PLANETS INFLUENCE HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

It illuminate the Earth by night 

@Narayanan Bhattathiri ·

Thanks for sharing the article. It needs from my part to understand further on what is written and wish I make it.

Thanks. Just a little bit of biology and Astronomical calculations. Must be easy for you.

Narayanan

The moon not only generates tides and illuminates it with its different phases, it has also astrological effects on the creatures on the Earth as it is nearest celestial body  for the Earth.

The crust of the Earth is also affected. The Moon’s tidal forcing causes significant heating and dissipation of energy to take place. Part of this energy is heating the Earth, and part of it is dissipated by forcing the Moon to recede from the Earth over time. There are people who propose that the tidal effect of the Moon may have helped trigger the convection on the Earth that led to the multi-plate tectonics. The other planets don’t have the same tectonic cycle. For most of them, the crust is like a lid that doesn’t move much horizontally, and the magma and heat are blocked by this lid on the surface. The Earth instead has rolling convective motion that drags the crust, and then the crust plunges back down into the mantle and gets recycled.

The Moon has been a stabilizing factor for the axis of rotation of the Earth. If you look at Mars, for instance, that planet has wobbled quite dramatically on its axis over time due to the gravitational influence of all the other planets in the solar system. Because of this obliquity change, the ice that is now at the poles on Mars would sometimes drift to the equator. But the Earth’s moon has helped stabilize our planet so that its axis of rotation stays in the same direction. For this reason, we had much less climatic change than if the Earth had been alone. And this has changed the way life evolved on Earth, allowing for the emergence of more complex multi-cellular organisms compared to a planet where drastic climatic change would allow only small, robust organisms to survive.

The Moon has influenced biology in other ways as well. For species living near the coast, the tide is an important factor. When you look at the shorelines, you can recognize different layers of organisms that have adapted to the salt water conditions based on the ebb and flow of the tide.

The eyesight of many mammals is sensitive to moonlight. The level of adaptation of night vision would be very different without the Moon. Many of these species have evolved in such a way that their night vision could work in even partial lunar illumination, because that’s when they are most active. But they can be more subjected to predators, too, so there is a balance between your ability to see and your ability not to be seen. The Moon has completely changed evolution in that aspect.

Human vision is so sensitive that we are almost able to work by the light of the Milky Way. The full Moon has more light than we need to see at night. For most of our history, we were hunting and fishing or doing agriculture, and we organized our lives by using the Moon. It determined the time for hunting, or the time where we could harvest. That’s why most of our calendars are based on the Moon.

In a recent workshop called “Earth-Moon Relationships,” psychologists discussed the relation between the lunar phases and several aspects of life. There was a very interesting correlation, not with the birth of children, but with the time of conception. Perhaps that is due to some social or sentimental value of the Moon. We tend to forget the impact the Moon has on our lives because we use electric lights, but for most of our history we had to adapt our behavior to the lunar phases.

http://www.astrobio.net/topic/exploration/moon-to-mars/if-we-had-no-moon/

Maria Bettencourt Pires

One problem with the theory that the Ancients went hunting on full moon and hence women started selectively ovulating on New moon days is that, if this be the case, the number of births should be more on New moon days since duration of pregnancy is around 10 lunar months.

As I explained in my article (Article HOW PLANETS INFLUENCE HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Narayanan

To say the least, one must always respect others' point of view.

Together, joint works will lead our steps further.

Yes, Maria. That's all one asks for

Narayanan

Sun's light provides the energy for all living things. But this alone is not enough for life to originate. The tidal waves show the physical effect of moon that is hard to conceive and is proven to be seen. The moon acts as a nice reflecting body of the sun's light moderates it and due to some possible unknown effect is the cause of life to be born. Without the moon the earth could be lifeless. There is really some underlying cause to be studied and understood.