The day before the terrible Tsunami struck Japan, Yahoo! News carried a story entitled “Will March 19 ‘Supermoon’ Trigger Natural Disasters?” picked up from Life’s Little Mysteries (March 10). After a quick read it was clear that the term “Supermoon” was coined by an astrologer, but the possibility that the moon might have a greater pull on ocean tides, thus relieving pressure on the tectonic plates (especially in the Northwest U.S.) was posited by a U. of Washington scientist. I did wonder if the 8.9 earthquake may have been affected by this closeness, called a perigee. But by the 4th paragraph it was clear that it’s the fullness of the moon, not it’s distance, that affects tides. Theoretically it should affect seismic activity, but scientifically there has not been any historic correlation.
Life’s Little Mysteries (March 11 story) clarifies the correlation between seismic activity and the moon. A scientist friend of mine said that the “Supermoon” was a “hoax”. But that’s not quite true. The “Supermoon” is really a superb moon. It underscored to me that words do matter — especially about the way we interpret facts vs. ideas. And that neither science nor mysticism is clearly separated in our concept of the world. The only thing that clarifies the distinction is the use of words.