"Study debunks full-moon injury beliefs"

"Ever whacked your thumb with a hammer, or wrenched your back after lifting
a heavy box, and blamed the full moon? It's a popular notion, but there's no
cosmic connection, Austrian government researchers said Tuesday.

Robert Seeberger, a physicist and astronomer at the Ministry of Economic
Affairs, said a team of experts analyzed 500,000 industrial accidents in
Austria between 2000 and 2004 and found no link to lunar activity.

'The full moon does not unfavorably affect the likelihood of an accident,'
Seeberger said.

The study, released Tuesday by the General Accident Insurance Office, said
that on average there were 415 workplace accidents registered per day. Yet
on days when the moon was full, the average actually dipped to 385, though
the difference was not statistically significant.

The lunar influence theory dates at least to the first century A.D., when
the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder wrote that his observations suggested 'the
moon produces drowsiness and stupor in those who sleep outside beneath her
beams.'"

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070731/ap_on_re_eu/full_moon_mishaps