As we come closer to the geulah we see how medicine, technology, and science in particular is "discovering" things that Torah speaks about thousands of years ago and now it has become easier for a skeptic to practice Torah and mitzovs both for himself and the people around him. Not that we need to science to confirm what is written in the Torah but when moshiach comes the world will be in in tandem with what it says in torah and nothing will look like it is opposed to the Torah view or not in perfect harmony. I believe we are seeing a host of interesting discovers that point int this direction.
Below is a synopsis of a study published in Current Biology.
Evidence that the Lunar Cycle Influences Human Sleep
The author is saying that the study shows that humans are effected by the state of the moon I.E when there is a full moon people might not sleep as good as when there is a new moon. ( this could be a separate discussion as is explained that the new moon symbolizes the pinnacle or the rebirth of the Jewish people while still in exile)
what is interesting about this study is that The Talmud tells us that a solar eclipse is a bad omen for the entire world, which runs according to the solar calendar, and a lunar eclipse is considered a bad sign for the Jewish nation, who calculate the duration of months according to the cycles of the moon.
The Jewish sages of old all have known for a very long time that eclipses are natural events that can be predicted thousands of years in advance. Thus we can be quite certain that their statement does not mean that eclipses are results of ill behavior. Rather, an additional result of the celestial positioning that causes an eclipse is that certain people are especially prone to sin and punishment. This is not unlike the Talmudic teaching that people born under certain Zodiac signs are likely to follow certain paths. These factors do not take away of free will, but they do give us a propensity that we can and must overcome.
Now obviously the Talmud is not talking about this study but its interesting to note how science is telling us that the moon has an effect on people once a month or more, and when someone sees that the talmud says when there is a solar eclipse or lunar eclipse it has an effect on people here is a good place to start.
here is the overview of the study.
Endogenous rhythms of circalunar periodicity (∼29.5 days) and their underlying molecular and genetic basis have been demonstrated in a number of marine species [1,2]. In contrast, there is a great deal of folklore but no consistent association of moon cycles with human physiology and behavior [3]. Here we show that subjective and objective measures of sleep vary according to lunar phase and thus may reflect circalunar rhythmicity in humans. To exclude confounders such as increased light at night or the potential bias in perception regarding a lunar influence on sleep, we retrospectively analyzed sleep structure, electroencephalographic activity during non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep, and secretion of the hormones melatonin and cortisol found under stringently controlled laboratory conditions in a cross-sectional setting. At no point during and after the study were volunteers or investigators aware of the a posteriori analysis relative to lunar phase. We found that around full moon, electroencephalogram (EEG) delta activity during NREM sleep, an indicator of deep sleep, decreased by 30%, time to fall asleep increased by 5 min, and EEG-assessed total sleep duration was reduced by 20 min. These changes were associated with a decrease in subjective sleep quality and diminished endogenous melatonin levels. This is the first reliable evidence that a lunar rhythm can modulate sleep structure in humans when measured under the highly controlled conditions of a circadian laboratory study protocol without time cues.
