People really do have more sex around Christmas — and there’s a baby boom nine months later to match, according to new research that looks at Google searches and Twitter posts.
Researchers looked at web searches about sex from 2004 to 2010 and 10 percent of public Twitter posts from 2010 to 2014. (The results were published this week in the journal Scientific Reports .) The data came from 130 countries and both hemispheres, which is crucial to show that the increase in birth rates is because of cultural factors related to a holiday, and not simply biological factors related to more or less daylight being available.
By analyzing the data, the scientists confirmed that interest in sex does peak during major cultural celebrations and...
