Re: effects on living in different hemospheres?

Genevieve,

thanks for a really interesting question. Unfortunately it is almost an 
impossible one to find a scientific answer. The short answer is that I have not 
come across any study claiming any such differences, but that is not to say that 
there is none.

The Southern hemisphere contains only about 20% of the Earth's land mass and 10% 
of its population. Generally there are few of the wealthiest or the poorest 
countries in the Southern hemisphere. Australia and New Zealand are comfortable 
and prosperous, but falling behind Western Europe and North America. Some 
countries in South America and sub-equatorial Africa are poor, but not as poor as 
some of those further North. Population densities are generally lower, but that 
largely ties in with poorer rainfall and soils.

It is very difficult to see how a study could be done that would isolate simple 
location factors from all of the social factors that might be relevant. For 
example, skin cancer rates are much higher in the Southern than the Northern 
Hemisphere. But that is almost entirely because of very fair-skinned people whose 
ancestors came from Northern Europe to settle in far sunnier and lower latitude 
locations in Australia, South Africa, and South America. Not only that, but they 
have largely retained a set of cultural values that makes them spend much more 
time in direct sunlight than is really good for them. There is a larger ozone 
depletion in the Southern hemisphere than the Northern hemisphere generally, but 
these cultural factors are probably more important overall in determining the 
difference in skin cancer rates.

Instead of being scientific, let me be anecdotal for a while. When I lived in the 
Northern Hemisphere (1970-1973 and 1994 -- between 3 and 4 adult years in total 
from a lifespan of just over 50 years) the most noticeable effect was a 
disorientation. I am used to finding my way around unfamiliar cities and 
countryside on foot. But in the Northern hemisphere I would get unaccountably 
lost. When I stopped and analysed it, I concluded that it was an almost 
subconscious effect of the sun going the wrong way around the sky! I could get my 
head around the fact that the midday sun would be in the South rather than the 
North. But I could not properly come to terms with the changed direction of 
motion. I would keep wanting South to be to the left of the sun in the morning 
and to the right of the sun in the afternoon, with obviously disastrous 
consequences for navigation. I have had other Australians also report the "wrong 
feel" of the way the sun moves around the sky in the Northern hemisphere.