Oh dear! Does this mean that the moon landings were not faked? Can it possibly be that the supposedly live TV stream believed to really be from a secret studio somewhere or other was actually from the surface of the moon, like NASA said it was? Wow! Who would have thought it?

As someone who worked as a 911 dispatcher for over 12 years, and has worked around law enforcement, doctors, ER staff for over 20, the full moon thing is REAL. I don't know what it is, but 2 days before and 2-3 days after a full moon, the nuts really come out of the woodwork. You will get some of the strangest calls for service, during that period of the month.

"...thoroughly debunked..."
Ha ha ha! The wisdom of millennia disproved in a generation! Our kids are so smart!

This is essentially old news. I had a neighbor who worked in a psych ward and the patients would really get riled up during a full moon.

How about if the sun is warming the 'plate' onto which the reflectors are attached and distorting it instead of or in addition to the lenses?

"The level of precision is remarkable, considering that only one photon, on average, is detected in each return pulse – roughly 1 in 100 quadrillion photons sent from the telescope to the Moon."
I think that number nay be incorrect The illustration in the articall indicates that 300x10^15 Photons leave in each Pulse and only 1 in 30x10^6 photons are reflected. It also states that only 1 in 30x10^6 photons in the returning pulses are detected. 300x10^15 / 30x10^6 = 10x10^9 Photons returned 10x10^9/30x10^6 = .3x10^3 or 3x10^2
It seems that the statement could be changed to 300 photons are returned roughly 1 in 10 quadrillion.
With only one photon per pulse returned I thing it would take a lot of averaging to determine if that photon was from the leading edge of the laser emission or the trailing edge. Also if the distance from the earth to the moon is found to vary this would make it even more difficult. At least with 300 photons and a 3mm wide pulse you could more easily get the accuracy down to 1mm or .04 in.
What I find really incredible about this article is that we can measure down to 1x10-12 seconds and not only that but generate light pulses that are 2cm long.
I just had look the this website http://physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/apollo/basics.html that explains the experiment in a bit more detail. apparently there are other factors that effect the returning of photos so only 1-5 photons are actually detected from each pulse. The link also explains that the distance fro the earth to the moon does vary and some of the factors that they take into account when determining this value such as continental drift and weather systems pushing down on the crust of the earth. Fascinating

No need to explain anything one way or the other. Whatever is, is. Besides, it's fun to howl at the moon and have a reason.

how is that a curse?

@ SuperFool,
Blame the fables of werewolves and vampires.

There should be no mystery -
During a full moon you are gaining the full reflectivity of the sun off the Moon's surface. This equates to a massive reflection of photons, RFI, EMI, etc.... This will change the character of the test photons by injecting energy into them and diverting them through the intense noise.
Examples: 1) Look at a PC screen in the Dark - It is harsh on the eyes. Turn on a light somewhere in the vicinity and the PC screen light is diffused to be less harsh on your eyes. Why? The light is diminished by being diverted through the interference of the other light. 2) Try whispering in an empty room then doing the same in a room full of loud talking people. .