TIL that a double-blind study which was published in Nature showed that experienced astrologers are no better at determining people’s psychological traits based on the location of the stars during their birth than someone who is randomly guessing them.

For anyone who's never found a good way to shut down a star-sign conversation, these fun science facts can derail the topic fast. 98.2% guaranteed to work.

A study from the UK:

  • Winter babies were at the greatest risk for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, with January being the most common birth month for this group. Spring babies, meanwhile, appeared to be at greatest risk for depression, which demonstrated an almost significant peak in May.
  • Schizophrenia had significant lows for people born in July, and bipolar disorder had significant lows for individuals born in August and September. People born in November were significantly less likely to experience depression. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-truisms-wellness/201510/can-your-birthday-predict-your-mental-health

A study from Hungary:

  • cyclothymic temperament (characterized by rapid, frequent swings between sad and cheerful moods), is significantly higher in those born in the summer, in comparison with those born in the winter.
  • Hyperthymic temperament - a tendency to be excessively positive - were significantly higher in those born in spring and summer
  • Those born in the winter were significantly less prone to irritable temperament than those born at other times of the year.
  • Those born in autumn show a significantly lower tendency to depressive temperament than those born in winter. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/econ-bsa101714.php

From a japanese study:

higher ambient temperature at birth month was related to higher scores of self-directedness and persistence in females. Also, higher ambient temperature at birth month was related to lower body mass index (BMI) in females. These results suggest that month of birth affects self-directedness and persistence in healthy Japanese females, and these effects may be mediated by BMI changes associated with ambient temperature at birth month. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924933808016477

A study on mice:

The winter-born mice showed a consistent slowing of their daily activity period,regardless of whether they had been maintained on a winter light cycle, or had been shifted to summer cycle after weaning. When the researchers examined the master biological clocks in the mouse brains, using a gene that makes the clock cells glow green when active, they found a similar pattern: slowing of the gene clocks in winter-born mice compared to those born on a summer light cycle. http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20101105221553data_trunc_sys.shtml

From wikipedia:

Birth rates of people who later kill themselves show disproportionate excess for April, May and June compared with the other months. Overall, the risk of suicide increases by 17% for people born in the spring–early summer compared with those born in the autumn–early winter; this risk increase was larger for women (29.6%) than for men (13.7%) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season_of_birth#The_results_of_the_scientific_researches

/r/todayilearned Thread Link - en.wikipedia.org