In 1985, Nature, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, published “A Double Blind Test of Astrology”, now known as the ‘Carlson experiment’. The conclusion was that natal astrology as practised by reputable astrologers was no better th

Although Chinese folklore holds that the Dragon Year is an auspicious time to have a birth, notable increases in Chinese fertility in Dragon Years did not occur before 1976. Demographic explanations for the belated occurence of this phenomenon rely on th

The status of women in the Middle Ages was ambiguous, because although they had great responsibility and expertise in practical affairs they were viewed as chattel and inferior to men. They were skilled in cookery, often of highly spiced didshes using a

Rather than speaking broadly about the determinants of the nurse-patient realtionship, as I did in my book, in this article I have focused more narrowly on psychiatric mental health nurses and their patients. I cited, as the chief influence on the contex

Astrology is no longer regarded as a science by many, because its claims are almost impossible to test empirically in controlled laboratory conditions and it cannot meet the scientific need to be reproducible. However, the majority of those who read thei

Objectives: to examine the relationship between beliefs in ways of telling the future (astrology, graphology, palmistry, etc) and beliefs in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Design: participants completed a short questionnaire that requested

Objective: to determine whether a relationship between urinary retention and temporal rhythms exists. Design: retrospecive analysis of patients presenting over three years. Setting: urology departments in two hospitals. Patients: 815 patients presenti

The objective of this study was to analyse whether the number of admissions for gastrointestinal bleeding to our bleeding unit increases during the full moon. In a propsective study, we included 447 consecutive patients with gastrointestinal haemorrhage

The study is in response to the question of whether the moon can influence daily levels of stress. Method: 4 years of telephone call frequency data were obtained from a single crisis-call centre. We used the method of lunar day numbers 1 to 29 for analy

Disappointment can drive infertile couples to consider unusual or unconventional tactics for ensuring a successful pregnancy. Ancient lore associates particular astrological arrangements with fertility, and the possibility that astrology can be valuable