Today's interesting fact has to do with yawning.
Yawning is contagious in humans and other primates.
If any primate sees another yawn, the odds are it will also yawn.
But with humans, the contagiousness of yawning greater.
Not only can we humans yawn when we see other humans, dogs, cats, or primates yawn, we also can start yawning if we read about it, write about it or even just think about yawning.
As no other animals has successfully learnt to read, humans are unique.
Showing posts with label Yawn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yawn. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Been ill for the past week so haven't posted. Sorry folks, especially Nick.
Still, here we go again.
Today's interesting fact has to do with why we yawn.
There have been many theories as to why we yawn, from threatening possible enemies, to increasing the oxygen we get into our blood, to helping us to wake up. But lately someone looked at the roof of our mouths with specialist equipment and watched what happens to blood flow, temperature and air flow when we yawn.
The examination of the resultant data suggests that while some of the other suggestions may have some validity, perhaps the biggest reason we yawn is to cool our brains.
The soft palette at the top of our mouths are full of blood vessels that can be used to transfer warmth from the brain into our breath as we breathe out and then colder air coming into our lungs during the yawn then reduces the blood temperature further which then further cools the brain.
And this also explains why we get brain freezes when we accidentally place ice cold foods or drinks on that soft pallet.
Still, here we go again.
Today's interesting fact has to do with why we yawn.
There have been many theories as to why we yawn, from threatening possible enemies, to increasing the oxygen we get into our blood, to helping us to wake up. But lately someone looked at the roof of our mouths with specialist equipment and watched what happens to blood flow, temperature and air flow when we yawn.
The examination of the resultant data suggests that while some of the other suggestions may have some validity, perhaps the biggest reason we yawn is to cool our brains.
The soft palette at the top of our mouths are full of blood vessels that can be used to transfer warmth from the brain into our breath as we breathe out and then colder air coming into our lungs during the yawn then reduces the blood temperature further which then further cools the brain.
And this also explains why we get brain freezes when we accidentally place ice cold foods or drinks on that soft pallet.
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