Razib Khan is always up to something creative and Sunday night was no exception. Check out the google trend for “depression” he spotted unintentionally while searching for the economic meaning of the word:

This graph shows a clear seasonal trend and brings to mind the study on birth season that came out earlier this year from the University of Notre Dame. So perhaps we have yet another factor to consider in the equation of why winter babies seem to fall behind their peers… Might a parent’s emotional state at birth influence the child’s health and achievement later in life?

Take a look at the results from a new study out of the University of Notre Dame and then go visit The Wall Street Journal for details. The differences are small, but still interesting and I’m curious to find out what readers make of this…

Children born in the winter months already have a few strikes against them. Study after study has shown that they test poorly, don’t get as far in school, earn less, are less healthy, and don’t live as long as children born at other times of year. Researchers have spent years documenting the effect and trying to understand it.

But economists Kasey Buckles and Daniel Hungerman at the University of Notre Dame may have uncovered an overlooked explanation for why season of birth matters.

Maybe. But on a personal note, I’m a May baby and it happens my older brother was born in January. He’s the smart one. And while personal anecdotes do not serve as evidence, correlations don’t necessarily either.