| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
bluestreak
3 Posts |
 Posted - 09/06/2010 : 16:26:06
|
While studying the cancer disease for the past few months I found out that there are specific patterns to the way people are searching for different cancer terms in Google, and those patterns repeat each and every year!
For instance, there is an increase in the amount of searches for the term “skin cancer” which peaks every May, at least since 2004.
You can see more details and graphical examples on the cancer patterns page on my site - http://www.cancer-study.com/blog/2010/09/02/cancer-search-patterns/
If you know or can think of an explanation for this I’d love to hear it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fight cancer with information
http://www.cancer-study.com/
|
|
|
dan
611 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2010 : 01:23:24
|
| I think a possible explanation is that May is just after the point of maximum vitamin D deficiency, at least in the northern hemisphere. People have been deprived of vitamin D from lack of sunshine in the winter due to the shorter days, cold temperatures (vitamin D production needs warmth) and low angle of the sun that filters the UV content needed to produce vitamin D. This should also give people pause about over-applying sunscreen, which also prevents vitamin D synthesis from sunlight. |
 |
|
|
bluestreak
3 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2010 : 03:02:01
|
Hey Dan.
That's a great explanation, for the northern hemisphere.
But some countries in the southern hemisphere are not that far away from this date. In South-Africa, for example, the searches peak at March. We would've expected them to peak somewhere around November-December. |
|
|
|
dan
611 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2010 : 02:08:05
|
| OK, looking at the graph, I see peaks in March, May, and October. The May and October peaks are 5 months apart and the March and October peaks are 7 months apart, and the average is 6 months. I would expect the double peak is the northern hemisphere end of winter and the single October peak is end of winter for the southern hemisphere, but then South Africa does not fit. I guess we need really separate graphs for northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere. |
|
|
|
bluestreak
3 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2010 : 07:39:33
|
Couldn't agree more!
I'll try to suggest that to the guys on Google but even if they listen it'll probably take a while till they apply the changes.
Since the population on the northern hemisphere is much larger than the one on the southern hemisphere the peak they create is much more dominant on the general graph. But - South Africa...
It gets even weirder when looking at the graph of the term 'cancer' (the first graph on my site).
We get two major peaks per year at most English speaking countries all over the globe. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Interesting patterns of cancer search in Google
