An article about astrology in Nature

[Guest guest]

Perhaps astrologers would liketo comment on this article from Nature.

 

--Radha S.

 

Nature 447, 528 (31 May 2007) | doi:10.1038/447528a; Published online

30 May 2007

 

Treating astrology's claims with all due gravity

 

Steven K. Lower1

 

1. The Ohio State University, 275 Mendenhall Laboratory, Columbus,

Ohio 43210, USA

 

Sir

 

Isaac Newton postulated that there is a force of attraction between

any two bodies in the Universe. Your News story 'Gravity passes a

little test' (Nature 446, 31†" 32; 2007) points out that " Isaac Newton's

inverse-square law of gravity has given faultless service ever since " .

I have found a curious way to use Newton's law to draw attention to

the difference between science and anti-science for a general

audience.

 

I teach an introductory science class at my university, which

typically enrols many non-science majors. During a lecture on the

gravitational force, I imply that if planets such as Mars exert a

force on any object, including humans, then perhaps there is something

to astrology's idea that celestial bodies exert a force of influence

on our lives. I encourage my students to undertake a test I have

designed for this notion.

 

I present the students with 12 randomly numbered horoscopes from the

previous day, with the corresponding signs of the zodiac removed. I

ask each student to record the horoscope that best describes the day

she or he had, and the astrological sign (for example, Aries)

corresponding to her/his birthday. My scientific hypothesis is that

planets may exert a force on our bodies, but it is purely random †" 1

out of 12 (8.3%) †" whether a horoscope foretells the events of one's

life.

 

I am pleased to report that, as Shawn Carlson has noted, " astrology

failed to perform at a level better than chance " (Nature 318, 419†" 425;

1985). The results from my classes are: 8.0% (n = 163 students), 8.4%

(n = 155), 7.0% (n = 143), 8.0% (n = 138) and 8.0% (n = 100). In other

words, as John Maddox has commented " astrology is a pack of lies ...

There is no evidence that the positions of the planets can affect

human behaviour " (Nature 368, 185; 1994).

 

I encourage science teachers to try this approach when they are

presented with an opportunity, as this exercise inspires genuine

scientific inquiry. For example, students have countered that a

certain astrologer may not be qualified to read the stars. I have

addressed this question by using horoscopes from different newspapers

(Chicago Tribune, Columbus Dispatch, Los Angeles Times and Washington

Post) and online sources (Astrology.com, DailyHoroscopes.com). Other

students have noted that small groups, with only two students of a

particular sign, may obtain a result that is significantly greater

than 8.3%. This presents an opportunity to discuss the value of an

adequate sample size.

 

Finally, it is worth reporting that my students are so engaged by this

exercise that they actually want to use Newton's law of universal

gravitation to calculate force values. In case you are curious, Mars,

at its present distance of 264 million kilometres from Earth, is

exerting a force of approximately 50 nanonewtons on your being.