Moon genes

Summary

Unexplainable: Moon Genes – Episode Summary

Title: Moon Genes
Host: Meredith Hognaught
Guest: Rebecca Boyle, Science Journalist and Author of "Our Moon"
Release Date: April 16, 2025

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Introduction: The Moon's Profound Influence

In the "Moon Genes" episode of Unexplainable, host Meredith Hognaught delves into the enigmatic relationship between the Moon and life on Earth through the insights of science journalist Rebecca Boyle. Boyle, whose award-winning work has been featured in prestigious publications like Nature, Science, and The New York Times, presents a compelling thesis: the Moon has been instrumental in shaping not only our planet but also the very essence of life itself.

Rebecca Boyle [02:13]: "My book is a story about the shared history between humanity and the Moon. I think there's a lot that we still don't actually understand about that relationship."

Earth and Moon: A Symbiotic Dance

Boyle explains that the Earth and Moon orbit a common center of gravity, emphasizing their intertwined existence in space. This mutual orbit is more than a celestial dance; it has tangible effects on Earth's environment and, by extension, on life.

Rebecca Boyle [03:09]: "Basically, life as we know it would not be possible without the moon."

This symbiotic relationship has stabilized Earth's tilt, leading to a stable climate conducive to life. The Moon's gravitational pull is responsible for over half of the ocean's tidal mixing, a process crucial for nutrient distribution in marine ecosystems.

Lunar Genes and Marine Life

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the concept of "lunar genes"—genetic mechanisms in marine organisms that sync their behaviors with the Moon's cycles.

Rebecca Boyle [04:27]: "There is evidence that there are lunar genes that drive certain behaviors. And this is more obvious in marine animals, which makes sense because they rely on the tide."

One fascinating example Boyle highlights is coral reproduction. Corals release their sperm and eggs synchronously during full moons, an event sometimes humorously referred to as "the greatest orgy on Earth" by scientists.

Rebecca Boyle [05:18]: "One of my favorite ones is coral. Almost every species of coral responds to moonlight, at least to the lunar cycle."

This synchronization ensures successful fertilization, demonstrating the Moon's pivotal role in the reproductive cycles of marine life.

Lunar Influence on Plants

Beyond marine life, Boyle presents intriguing evidence of the Moon's impact on terrestrial plants. She cites studies involving the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which exhibited root movements synchronized with lunar cycles even when grown on the International Space Station under microgravity conditions.

Rebecca Boyle [06:37]: "There is a Scottish botanist who devoted a lot of his career to showing this connection between the moon and plant life... they found the same lunar cycle that they find on Earth, even when they're in space in microgravity."

This suggests that the Moon's gravitational presence may directly influence plant gene expression, hinting at a molecular connection that transcends mere visual or gravitational effects.

Potential Effects on Human Biology

The conversation takes a thought-provoking turn as Boyle explores the possibility that humans might also harbor genetic connections to the Moon. She discusses historical beliefs linking the Moon to human behavior and health, such as the origins of the word "lunacy."

Rebecca Boyle [08:25]: "I definitely think so. And I think this is one of these things that's been dismissed for the last century or so in medicine because it's hard to prove."

Boyle references studies that correlate lunar cycles with various human health metrics, including menstruation cycles, strokes, heart attacks, and even sleep patterns. Notably, she mentions a study published in Science Advances that found a strong correlation between lunar cycles and human menstrual cycles, with the average cycle length mirroring the Moon's cycle.

Rebecca Boyle [14:41]: "But if you look at the statistical averages of people over long periods of time that are tracking these things, the numbers are the same. It's 29 and a half days. And that's the length of a lunar cycle."

Moreover, Boyle discusses research indicating that full moons can disrupt human sleep, affecting both the duration and quality of rest even in controlled environments where moonlight isn’t directly visible.

Rebecca Boyle [16:37]: "And there’s evidence that people who have bipolar disorder experience heightened episodes of mania during full moons."

Challenges in Scientific Exploration

Boyle acknowledges the significant challenges scientists face in studying the Moon's impact on biology. The numerous confounding factors in human health and behavior make it difficult to isolate the Moon's specific effects. Controlled studies are particularly challenging, as it's impossible to shield human subjects entirely from lunar influences in natural settings.

Rebecca Boyle [18:34]: "There are so many confounding factors that it makes it really difficult. And I mean, any epidemiology is hard for that reason, but that doesn't mean it's not real."

Despite these obstacles, Boyle advocates for continued research, emphasizing the importance of understanding the Moon's role in Earth's history and evolution.

The Moon's Unacknowledged Role

Boyle laments that the Moon's significance is often overlooked in modern scientific discourse. She argues that recognizing the Moon's contributions is essential for a comprehensive understanding of Earth's ecological and biological systems.

Rebecca Boyle [19:42]: "It's one of the primary features of Earth, and I don't think it's really thought about in that way. But it's as much a part of Earth as the ocean and the atmosphere and plate tectonics."

She also reflects on human achievements related to the Moon, such as the Apollo missions, while expressing a desire for a deeper appreciation of the Moon's intrinsic value beyond its scientific utility.

Rebecca Boyle [20:38]: "The Moon is a world. The moon is a place that is very special and unique. There's no other place like it in our solar system or anywhere else we've ever looked."

Conclusion: A Call for Reverence and Understanding

In wrapping up the episode, Boyle articulates her hope that her work will inspire a renewed appreciation for the Moon's role in sustaining life on Earth. She envisions a future where the Moon is not only celebrated for its exploratory milestones but also revered for its ongoing influence on our planet and biology.

Rebecca Boyle [21:37]: "Hope I did right by you, Moon. I hope people care a little more now."

Unexplainable concludes by directing listeners to Boyle's book, Our Moon: Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are, encouraging a deeper exploration of the Moon's enigmatic influence.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Rebecca Boyle [02:13]: "My book is a story about the shared history between humanity and the Moon. I think there's a lot that we still don't actually understand about that relationship."
• Rebecca Boyle [03:09]: "Basically, life as we know it would not be possible without the moon."
• Rebecca Boyle [04:27]: "There is evidence that there are lunar genes that drive certain behaviors. And this is more obvious in marine animals, which makes sense because they rely on the tide."
• Rebecca Boyle [05:18]: "One of my favorite ones is coral. Almost every species of coral responds to moonlight, at least to the lunar cycle."
• Rebecca Boyle [06:37]: "There is a Scottish botanist who devoted a lot of his career to showing this connection between the moon and plant life... they found the same lunar cycle that they find on Earth, even when they're in space in microgravity."
• Rebecca Boyle [14:41]: "But if you look at the statistical averages of people over long periods of time that are tracking these things, the numbers are the same. It's 29 and a half days. And that's the length of a lunar cycle."
• Rebecca Boyle [16:37]: "And there’s evidence that people who have bipolar disorder experience heightened episodes of mania during full moons."
• Rebecca Boyle [18:34]: "There are so many confounding factors that it makes it really difficult. And I mean, any epidemiology is hard for that reason, but that doesn't mean it's not real."
• Rebecca Boyle [19:42]: "It's one of the primary features of Earth, and I don't think it's really thought about in that way. But it's as much a part of Earth as the ocean and the atmosphere and plate tectonics."
• Rebecca Boyle [20:38]: "The Moon is a world. The moon is a place that is very special and unique. There's no other place like it in our solar system or anywhere else we've ever looked."
• Rebecca Boyle [21:37]: "Hope I did right by you, Moon. I hope people care a little more now."

---

Key Takeaways

1. The Moon's Role in Earth's Stability: The Moon not only orbits Earth but together they create a stable environment essential for life through tidal forces and gravitational balance.

2. Genetic Synchronization with Lunar Cycles: Marine organisms, such as corals, have developed genetic mechanisms to synchronize reproductive activities with lunar phases, ensuring environmental cues align for successful propagation.

3. Plant Responses to the Moon: Terrestrial plants exhibit growth patterns and root movements that align with lunar cycles, indicating a possible genetic or gravitational influence beyond mere light perception.

4. Human Biological Connections: There are intriguing correlations between lunar cycles and various aspects of human health and behavior, including menstrual cycles, sleep patterns, and the incidence of certain medical conditions, though causation remains elusive.

5. Scientific Challenges: Isolating the Moon's specific effects on biology is fraught with methodological difficulties due to numerous confounding variables, necessitating innovative research approaches.

6. Appreciating the Moon's Legacy: Beyond its scientific contributions, the Moon holds cultural and existential significance, embodying a unique celestial companion that has shaped Earth's biological and environmental narrative.

Further Exploration

Listeners interested in delving deeper into the Moon's influence on life and Earth are encouraged to read Rebecca Boyle's Our Moon, which offers an extensive exploration of the topics discussed in this episode.

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Produced by Meredith Hognaught with contributions from the Unexplainable team, this episode underscores the Moon's mysterious and potentially profound role in shaping life on our planet.

Transcript

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[Meredith Hognaught]

Science journalist Rebecca Boyle says her life revolves around the Moon.

[Rebecca Boyle]

I think about it more than most people.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Her award winning work has been featured in Nature Science, the Atlantic, the New York Times. Talking to astrophysicists and astronomers from around the world, Rebecca's thought so much about the moon that sometimes she gets a little protective.

[Rebecca Boyle]

I've always loved the moon, so I kind of feel partial to it and defensive about it.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Who's dissing on the Moon?

[Rebecca Boyle]

Well, you'd be surprised. Astronomers are like, oh it's so bright. It can be really frustrating for people who study deep sky objects, which is like most astrophysicists and so they diss the moon sometimes and I'm always like, but no, the moon is really cool.

[Meredith Hognaught]

It's the near sky object, it's the.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Nearest thing, and it's the most important thing really.

[Meredith Hognaught]

I've been following her writing on the Moon for a long time. I've interviewed her on this show before. Noam too. She's kind of our go to Moon expert for Unexplainable. So I was excited when her first full length book came out just last year. It lays out her big thesis that the Moon made us who we are.

[Rebecca Boyle]

My book is a story about the shared history between humanity and the Moon. I think there's a lot that we still don't actually understand about that relationship. And the more I learned about how many questions we still have about the Moon. That made me think about what else we don't know about it and its connection to us. Like, there probably is a literally molecular connection to the Moon inside all life on Earth. The Moon is so much of a stabilizing force on this planet in so many ways. It's responsible for more than half of the mixing of the entire ocean through the tide. You know, if life originated in the deep ocean, which is the sort of more prevailing modern theory, the Moon probably dredged it up and maybe exposed life to the sun for the first time.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Basically, life as we know it would not be possible without the moon.

[Rebecca Boyle]

I definitely don't think so.

[Meredith Hognaught]

This is unexplainable. I'm Meredith Hognaught, and for today's Unexplainable book club, we launch into Rebecca Boyle's book, Our Moon, where she explores the ways the moon continues to shape our world.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Like, the moon doesn't get any credit for that. Usually.

[Meredith Hognaught]

The Moon does not orbit the Earth. Part of what I learned in Rebecca's book is that both Earth and moon actually circle each other. They share a center of gravity. It's closer to the Earth because the Earth is way bigger. But together, they spin through space two parts of the same whole. That intimate relationship extends to the life on Earth, too, where the Moon drives Earth's creatures on a molecular level.

[Rebecca Boyle]

There is evidence that there are lunar genes that. That drive certain behaviors. And this is more obvious in marine animals, which makes sense because they rely on the tide. They really need to know what the Moon phase is. And there's evidence that they have a genetic mechanism to do that.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Wow. So what are some of the coolest.

[Unknown Speaker]

Examples that you came across in your research of creatures in the ocean responding to the moon?

[Rebecca Boyle]

One of my favorite ones is coral. You know, almost every species of coral responds to moonlight, at least to the lunar cycle. And, you know, it's moonlight probably is the primary thing that they're responding to. But they don't even sense light. You know, most corals don't even have eyes. So what are they doing? Like, how are they. How are they seeing the moon, you know?

[Meredith Hognaught]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Boyle]

And so it probably isn't quite as simple as that they're seeing it. It's probably that it's gravitational presence overhead, you know, is also playing some kind of role. But when the moon is full, corals will release their sperm and eggs at the same time. Like the scientists that study this, you know, joke about it. One of them calls it the greatest orgy. On Earth. And we know that moonlight is a primary driver of that process. Like, if the moon is not visible, if it's cloudy or something, they won't. They will. They will wait.

[Unknown Speaker]

So they're, like, waiting to sync up, to make sure that they're all deploying this hoppin coral orgy at the same time.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Yeah. And it's one of those things, again, that seems, like, logical when you think about it, because how else are you going to coordinate that, you know, like, corals don't travel, they're not mobile, they don't have wristwatches.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Boyle]

And they don't meet up at certain places. Like, they don't have migratory patterns like other animals that mate. So you have to have some other kind of cue that you all use. And in the ocean, the moon is king.

[Unknown Speaker]

It makes sense that sea creatures, obviously dependent on the tide, would need to be really dialed in to moon cycles. But what about on land? Do you plants and animals respond to the moon?

[Rebecca Boyle]

They do, and I don't think we really understand why, especially for plants.

[Unknown Speaker]

Like, why would a little seedling need to be sensitive to the moon?

[Rebecca Boyle]

But it is in the movement of leaves, in the growth of roots, they respond to lunar gravity. There is a Scottish botanist who devoted a lot of his career to showing this connection between the moon and plant life. And before he died, he got an experiment flown on the space station where astronauts were looking at gene expression in Arabidopsis stelliana, which is the model plant. It's thalecrest. It's this little, tiny, little watery plant, and it's like the white mouse of botany. It's been thoroughly studied for decades. It's the plant you look at when you want to understand gene expression generally in plants. And they grew them on the space station and found the same lunar cycle that they find on Earth, even when they're in space in microgravity. So that suggests that there's some gravitational influence there, that the moon's presence in the sky is somehow altering the genes of plants.

[Meredith Hognaught]

So even when these plants weren't on Earth, they still respond to the moon's gravity.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Yeah. There's some math you have to do to figure out where the moon is where you are, because the space station orbits every 90 minutes. And so in his experiment, they showed that the plants changed their root movements every 45 and 90 and 135 minutes, which shows that they followed the rhythms of the moon even when they were off world.

[Unknown Speaker]

Is it possible that we as humans.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Have the moon also written into our DNA?

[Rebecca Boyle]

I Definitely think so. And I think this is one of these things that's been dismissed for the last century or so in medicine because it's hard to prove. You know, it sounds woo. It sounds like silly or witchcraft. And you know, it's sort of easy to dismiss in part because this was thought to be the case for millennia, like for almost all of written medical history. People believe that the planets and the moon, you know, astrology, played a huge role in our health. I mean, the word lunacy and lunatic comes from the moon, like lunar. And people really believed for a long time. And there probably is some truth to the fact that the moon plays this role in our psychology. It changes how we behave and how we feel when the moon is full. There is evidence that people who have bipolar disorder experience heightened episodes of mania during full moons. So like lunatic asylum, like it's not, it's not, it's not crazy, you know, I mean, there probably is something going on there. And you know, the issue is that people are complicated, society is complicated, and we can't really blame behaviors or activities on like one thing. And so it is simplistic to say the moon is like great, you know, driving people wild or whatever.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Right.

[Rebecca Boyle]

But there's interesting correlations in various fields of human health and physiology and in psychology, mental health and physical health. There's this possible connection that the full moon can increase the number of people having hemorrhages or undergoing a stroke or heart attack.

[Meredith Hognaught]

What?

[Rebecca Boyle]

Yeah, it's very thorny. But again, we don't know if it's. It has a gravitational influence. And if that's the case, how are we responding to that? Is there some physical change in the flow of our blood? Maybe looking at what happens to plants, that's not impossible.

[Unknown Speaker]

Almost like a tide in our blood, in our veins.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Exactly.

[Meredith Hognaught]

That's crazy.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Yeah. Is there a blood tide? I mean, I don't know. And this again would be really difficult to study in a meaningful way. But there's something. There's some cue that people seem to be responding to.

[Meredith Hognaught]

After the break. Yu might have felt a little different under the full moon last weekend.

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[Meredith Hognaught]

The moon haunts you Is the moon influencing our bodies, our biology? According to science writer and moon defender Rebecca Boyle, some of the most interesting research she's seen is from scientists actually trying to disprove the moon's effects. Like this 2021 paper from a German biologist looking into the connection between the moon and and fertility.

[Rebecca Boyle]

She set out to disprove this. Okay. She was like, I don't think this is real. I think that, you know, we should be able to show, looking at records, that there's not really a strong enough connection between lunar cycles and human menstruation. So she went through people who had used an app and also taken diary entries. The oldest record was like 42 years or something. Like it was a person's entire life. Yeah, like their entire fertile life. And she went back and overlaid that on lunar cycles and it was such a strong correlation that she was like, oh, I think that's a real thing. And this is published in Science Advances, pretty well regarded and I think super interesting. The main qualms people had with this study was that it wasn't a large population, so it was like a few dozen people. So it's not a population level statistic. But there are population level studies that have looked at reproductive health. And in all those studies, the length of an average human menstrual cycle is the same as a lunar cycle.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Boyle]

And like there are people, of course, on both ends of that spectrum. There are People with much shorter menstrual cycles, people with much longer ones. And those are all considered normal and healthy. Like there's not a right or wrong number.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Right.

[Rebecca Boyle]

But if you look at the statistical averages of people over long periods of time that are tracking these things, the numbers are the same. It's 29 and a half days. And that's the length of a lunar cycle. And that could totally be a coincidence or not. We don't know and we're never going to know. But I think it's just really worth keeping it in mind that there probably is some really profound ancestral connection that we have on like a literally molecular basis to the presence of the moon.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

One thing that we haven't touched on yet is sleep and how the moon.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Or the moon phases might influence sleep. Is that something you came across in your research?

[Rebecca Boyle]

Yeah, that's one of the more profound effects. Probably that impact, like the effect on sleep is one of the things that drives these knock on effects. So yeah, sleep probably is one of the things that has a dramatic effect on our entire physiology. And so any changes in sleep are going to have effects on mental health and physical health. Stress, like your gut, your microbiome, all these things cascade from disruption to sleep. And we know for a fact the moon does disrupt sleep. There was a study looking at grad students in Seattle, measuring their sleep and correlating it to Seattle moon. But it was a really interesting study. And it showed people living in dorms when there's lots of artificial light at night still had their sleep affected by the moon. Sleep decreases by several minutes on full moon nights. And my favorite study about this went into a sleep lab. This was another scientist who was like, this sounds fishy to me. Like I don't think this is real. I'm gonna rule it out.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Boyle]

And ran a study in a sleep lab. So windowless basement lab. And the participants were not told the real purpose of the study. They were told it was something else. And again, it was like a very profound change in the number of minutes of sleep and the length of their REM cycles, the quality of their sleep. All these things showed this pretty dramatic change from dark moon cycles to when the moon was full. But the fact that even if you can't see it, this is happening is sort of weird. And like there's gotta be some gravitational force at play here too, because the people didn't even see the moon. Like how are they gonna know?

[Meredith Hognaught]

Right?

[Unknown Speaker]

It's not like it's like shining in through their window or something. Disrupting their sleep.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Right?

[Meredith Hognaught]

Yeah. So what are some of the next.

[Unknown Speaker]

Steps in pursuing this journey? Like, what are scientists still trying to figure out about the relationship of the Moon and our bodies?

[Rebecca Boyle]

I think doing more studies like the ones on marine organisms to understand better this circa lunar rhythm and isolate the genes that might be responsible for that, because we're not sure yet what they are. And on like, just a, you know, a broader level, I think just trying to understand what made Earth Earth and what made us who we are is sort of the goal. And if we can come to understand the influences that played a role in our evolution in the, you know, distant past, that's valuable just for our own knowledge and to understand better who we are and how we got here. And I think the Moon plays a role in that story that has not been told very much, especially in modern medical science and health science. And just even how to frame those questions.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Yeah, what makes it so hard to.

[Unknown Speaker]

Study the Moon's impact on our bodies?

[Rebecca Boyle]

I mean, it's almost impossible to separate it from any other signal or pressure that you would be looking at. You know, you can't knock out people's genesis to see, like, would this change this? You can't do controlled studies, but you can do population level studies, you can do retrospective studies, and there's been a lot of that. But it's also really hard to divorce human health from other things that mess us up, like our diet and the air quality and artificial light at night affecting our circadian rhythms. There's so many confounding factors that it makes it really difficult. And I mean, any epidemiology is hard for that reason, but that doesn't mean it's not real. And that's the thing. I don't think when people think about overall health and environmental effects on health that they're thinking about the Moon, but maybe they should. Maybe there's something going on there that we should think about.

[Meredith Hognaught]

And why do you think it's important.

[Unknown Speaker]

To better understand the role of the Moon in our lives or appreciate that relationship?

[Rebecca Boyle]

I mean, it's one of the primary features of Earth, and I don't think it's really thought about in that way. But it's as much a part of Earth as the ocean and the atmosphere and plate tectonics, you know, the things that make Earth what it is. And I think we need to really consider that when we think about the origins of this planet and the origins of life on this planet and how we all live on this planet, but also just in Terms of the Moon, it doesn't really warrant a lot of attention from us in modern life. Once we went there and walked on it.

[Meredith Hognaught]

Been there, done that.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Yeah, it was like cool we did that. Some white dudes flounced around for a while and came home with rocks and cool. And I love Apollo. I think it's the pinnacle of human achievement. I will never diss the Apollo missions, but to me they were sort of lacking something which was that's not all there is. The Moon is a world. The moon is a place that is very special and unique. There's no other place like it in our solar system or anywhere else we've ever looked. And that has to mean something. We need to keep in mind what the Moon actually is and what it represents to us and what we owe it. What do we owe the moon now after all this history and all the things it's done for life on Earth? When I see it sometimes in my window and it's full, I'm like, hope I did right by you, Moon. I hope people care a little more now. That's the most success I can imagine for this book is like, if it makes people think about the moon in a different way and appreciate it in a different way, then I have done my job.

[Meredith Hognaught]

This one's for you, Moon.

[Rebecca Boyle]

Exactly.

[Meredith Hognaught]

You can learn more about this and so much more about the moon in Rebecca Boyle's book Our How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution and Made Us who We Are. This episode was produced by me, Meredith Hodnot. I also run the show. We had editing from Julia Longoria with help from Jorge, Just mixing and sound design from Christian Ayala, Music from Noam Hassenfeld. Production support the from Thomas Lu and Mandy Nguyen and fact checking from Melissa Hirsch. Bird Pinkerton bent over to read the note when the floor started to shake and then a sudden crash. The ceiling had collapsed in around her but the control panel and the note hadn't been touched. Thanks as always to Brian Resnik for co creating the show. Hey Brian, thank you. Thank you for creating this show. And if you have thoughts, Brian, but also anybody else, if you have thoughts you listeners about the show, you should send us an email. We're@ unexplainableox.com and you can also leave us a review or a rating wherever you listen. Don't you want to share us with your friends? Don't you want to blow their minds with science facts? It really helps us find new listeners. You can also support the show and all of Vox's journalism by joining our membership program today. You can go to vox.commembers to sign up. If you do, you'll be helping make this place run and you'll also get unlimited access to all of the reporting on Vox.com exclusive newsletters and all of our podcasts. Ad Free. Unexplainable is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network and we will be back next week.