<p>It’s easy to catch a yawn – you might even yawn while you’re reading this.</p><p>It’s not just humans that yawn, but all kinds of verterbrates, even fish! But contagious yawning is rarer.</p><p>Norman and Tegan unpack why we yawn in this live recording at the World Science Festival Brisbane.</p><p>References:</p><ul><li><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3120687/" target="_blank">Yawning: no effect of 3-5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02019-y" target="_blank">Brain size and neuron numbers drive differences in yawn duration across mammals and birds</a> </li><li><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19657685/" target="_blank">Excessive yawning and thermoregulation: two case histories of chronic, debilitating bouts of yawning</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep04010" target="_blank">Different yawns, different functions? Testing social hypotheses on spontaneous yawning in Theropithecus gelada</a></li><li><a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/why-yawns-are-contagious-all-kinds-animals" target="_blank">Why yawns are contagious—in all kinds of animals: Evolutionary biologist Andrew Gallup explains why we yawn after others</a> </li><li><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11682-012-9189-9" target="_blank">Mirror neuron activity during contagious yawning—an fMRI study</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230;jsessionid=4iI0X65XQet5mMH1YNm02-vWa0dvsU9kvD3N88kd.annurevlive-10-241-10-105">The mirror-neuron system </a></li></ul><p>If you enjoyed this episode, check these out!</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/whats-that-rash/handedness-right-left-cognition/106527642">Why are some people right (or left) handed?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/whats-that-rash/dairy-milk-chocolate-acne/105285682">Can consuming dairy really give you acne?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/whats-that-rash/daylight-savings-health-effects/105121098">Is daylight saving time bad for us?</a></li></ul>