Research published in The British Journal of Psychiatry reports that instances of anorexia nervosa are more prevalent amongst those with a Spring birth date, whereas those with an autumn birthday are less susceptible to the condition.
OK … But why does this matter ?
To quote from the BBC’s report:
Dr Lahiru Handunnetthi, one of the report’s authors, at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, said: “A number of previous studies have found that mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression are more common among those born in the spring – so this finding in anorexia is perhaps not surprising.
So we have an increasing body of research indicating that the time of year when we are born can have an effect on what makes us who we are.
Isn’t that what astrology has been saying for millennia ?
Astrology and Science ? Surely Not !
Look, there are two sides to this. The first (which is credible) is that the time of year when you gestate and are born can have an effect on your personality. So Taureans – like myself – tend to be stubborn. Yes we ARE. And Virgos are (i my experience) neat-freaks. Lots of people know this, but a lot of “rational” scientists have thrown this baby out with the bathwater.
The second side (the bathwater) – is that the random positions of unrelated stars relative to the Earth will dictate everything that happens in our lives. So it’s not our fault, is it ? I’m quite happy to agree that this is tosh.
Why do the rationalists reject it ?
Because they aren’t being rational 🙂 – Richard Dawkins and his pals have been rubbishing astrology as superstition for so long that – I suspect – their egos wouldn’t allow them to admit they could – perhaps – have been wrong.
The word “astrology” is a big taboo in science – so there will be a lot of back-pedalling on the lines of “that’s not really astrology, though”. You’ll really be able to wind up Brian Cox and Ben Goldacre (amongst others) with this until the penny drops … go on, ask them what star sign they are 🙂
Now, I admire these people but (in the article above) Mr. Goldacre limits the possible impact to “winter vegetables”. But there are other things that change with the seasons. To imagine that we’ve managed to insulate ourselves from some of these forces is to make the mistake of Canute (or at least – of his sycophantic advisers).
How do you think it works then ?
Of course our bodies are subject to the same forces of Nature that cause the leaves to fall off the trees, or the oceans to shift from one side of the planet to the other. Science just hasn’t managed to figure out how to prove it yet. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
… So I think that our personalities are influenced by our star signs. Not because of the stars, but because the stars are in the same position (near as dammit) every year. And because that’s how the calendar used to be reckoned.
It may be down to the hours of daylight, temperature, diet – quite possibly a combination of the above – but lots of people believe that the character traits seem to coincide with certain star formations. Of course, that doesn’t mean correlation (between constellation and character) is causal.
But here’s a quick hypothesis (probably unprovable) about how it might work:
- Different parts of our brain develop at different phases of our gestation.
- Growth of various parts of our bodies (including our brains) can vary with the seasons (there is some science behind this – fingernails do grow faster in the summer – according a a source cited on Wikipedia).
- So the part of our brain that is developing during a high-growth season will grow a little bit more, and have a little bit more emphasis on our character.
- This assumes that the chemicals that drive our brain’s development don’t necessarily work in a linear way – doing a job until it’s finished, then getting on with the next task. It assumes that they do as much of a jobs as they can within a given time. Or possibly that, because they’re working harder, they get a bit more work done before the message comes through to start on the next job.
Of course, latitude (and geographical hemisphere) may have an effect. And there will be lots of other environmental factors. But this could be a huge chunk of our personal “firmware”.
Now, I’m sure that there’ll be a lot of weaseling going on – so that self-important people don’t have to admit that they missed the obvious – but it won’t change the end result; that the stars in the sky when we’re born correlate to traits in our characters.
The Scientific Method
There’s another reason why lots of scientists will hate this. That’s because the rules of science dictate that results must be capable of being reproduced, and it’s not going to be easy to replicate a genetic code and a gestation environment – the two factors I believe to the way we’re wired.
The impact of the seasons can only really be gleaned through statistical analysis. Anathema to many “hard” scientists, who need to know exactly how it works (not a bad thing, normally).
There are a lot of jobs, money and kudos in genetic research. We’re being told that this “makes us who we are”. But if seasonal effects have a bigger impact on our personalities, then some of those goodies are liable to go elsewhere.
What’s your problem with scientists ?
I don’t have a problem with scientists per se. I think science is wonderful – although I never took it past ‘O’ level. I believe in evolution – I’m not a Creationist / fundamentalist of any sort. I just don’t think they know everything. More importantly, I don’t think they even know all the things they don’t know.
I think it’s dangerous when religions want their creation stories taught as science. But it’s also dangerous when scientists regard themselves as priests, with anything not capable of peer-reviewed replication being written off as superstition.
(As an aside : I was watching episode 2 of BBC’s “Gene Code” last night – in which the story was told of how the 98% of our DNA classified as “junk” was suddenly … errr… found to be really important)
As it happens, I would expect that replicating this work in another location would get very different results. Because the latitudes and longitudes are completely different. Of course, proving it on an individual level wouldn’t be ethical.
And there are, of course, very real dangers in identifying an environmental factor in gestation – potential parents might plan to start all their babies off at the same time – you can’t change your genes, but you could live in (for example) the Netherlands for a few months.
Personally, I think Nature has found yet another way to bring variation into our makeup. One more way for us to discover (unconsciously, until now) the different ways that life can thrive on this planet. Yes, we discovered Natural Selection over a century ago. It took 50 years to track down DNA and another 50 to map the Human genome. We shouldn’t be so arrogant as to imagine we know it all – or to think that Nature would constrain herself to a single biodiversity strategy.
In case you haven’t checked out my “About” page, this is just the thing I was thinking of when I picked the title for this blog …
It’s a bit of a diversion from the way the blog has evolved. But I’d really value some thoughtful comments …
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Of course, the astrologers aren’t going to be too pleased with this either.
And – of course – as (I believe) it’s nothing to do with the stars, then the Precession of the Seasons is irrelevant. So if you buy what I’m saying, then you don’t need to worry about that Aries tattoo after all.
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