Sea-saw Yawn Continuum

[Samantha]

Tonight while driving home from work, I saw a driver on the other side of the road having a huge yawn. As oft happens when you see such an event, I yawned too.

This got me thinking.

If traffic at both sides of the road was a steady flow, both doing exactly 60mph, would my yawn be caught by a driver on the other side driving in the opposite direction, then to be seen and caught by a driver coming my way and so on.

As such, the yawn could be held in a state of perpetual existence in the stretch of road covered by drivers passing it on/back/on. Could that yawn become immortal.

Sadly I suspect as night draws, drivers would no longer see each other and so the empathetic yawn would perhaps fade away faster than the latest x-factor/pop-star/talent show winner's career.

But, if when I drive that same stretch of road in the morning, someone yawns coming towards me, then I shall rejoice at the phoenix resurrected yawn.

[age136]

All I know is that just reading the word YAWN is enough to trigger a yawn . Zzzz

[johnny s]

Dammit Samantha, I've just yawned reading about your yawn theory and now my wifes yawning. This in turn has made me yawn again and now she's wearing that half baked grin that precedes a yawn.
The perpetual yawn theory has mileage ( well at least on the roads you drive ).

[age136]

What about if you stayed on a roundabout ?
The people at the entrance to the roundabouts wouldn't be able to pull out for yawning . You could cause gridlock just with a yawn !

[s2000db]

Yawn fascinating concecpt lol

[Samantha]

What about if you stayed on a roundabout ?
The people at the entrance to the roundabouts wouldn't be able to pull out for yawning . You could cause gridlock just with a yawn !

lol - love it. Someone should start it off on the Olympic torch run too - pass the torch and the yawn!

[Synsei]

What an exceedingly silly and funny thread, thanks for the giggle (and yawn) Samantha

[JPG]

Just yawned.

Yawns can cross species too - humans can 'catch' them from dogs (can't recall if it works the other way though).

[karlinamillion]

Problem is yawns have wave-partial duality.

This can be shown with the double slit experiment.

[baltika_no_9]

Problem is yawns have wave-partial duality.

This can be shown with the double slit experiment.

Wave-Particle surely.

[mikehit]

lol - love it. Someone should start it off on the Olympic torch run too - pass the torch and the yawn!

The final of the 100m. Just as the sprinters are settling into the blocks, someone yawns and instead of a Mexican wave we have a Mexican Yawn rippling round the stadium and, given that someone somewhere will start making that noise peopelmake when yawning, others will join in and so this will be transmitted to the sprinters a second before the gun fires. And the race will be run in a World record slow time of 18.3 seconds.

[karlinamillion]

Wave-Particle surely.

True, auto correct!

[khapahk]

The final of the 100m. Just as the sprinters are settling into the blocks, someone yawns and instead of a Mexican wave we have a Mexican Yawn rippling round the stadium and, given that someone somewhere will start making that noise peopelmake when yawning, others will join in and so this will be transmitted to the sprinters a second before the gun fires. And the race will be run in a World record slow time of 18.3 seconds.

We have Mexican yawns at work - in a block of six desks all facing inwards its quite easy to achieve. It also speaks volumes for the excitement of our jobs.........


k

[Mr Cat]

I suggest you keep an eye on the road...

[earlofsodbury]

Just yawned.

Yawns can cross species too - humans can 'catch' them from dogs (can't recall if it works the other way though).

Makes me wonder how far "down" the evolutionary ladder that this effect can go since fish certainly yawn...

[sq225917]

Maybe it goes all the way down to you Sodders.

[Mr Cat]

Maybe it goes all the way down to you Sodders.

it would, but he doesn't even have a face

[earlofsodbury]

it would, but he doesn't even have a face

Not true I have two of them

[Mr Cat]

Not true I have two of them

lol

[Samantha]

Update on the Yawn continuum .....

Sadly the yawn had left the stretch of road where it was last seen doing the sea-saw relay.
However since the contagious yawn is apparently not just a human thing, I decided a scientific study was required.
My evidence (on an admittedly small sample size) is that if you yawn, a dog will catch it far more often than a cat will. Arguably this could be due to cats having a lack of empathy. Studies do suggest that in humans, those higher up the Autistic scale are less likely to "catch a yawn".

So ..... next thought - could a yawn in court be used as evidence if someone is using a psychological defense in a murder trial - i.e. someone who claims to be a sociopath and therefore less culpable would be proved to be a fraud if they respond and yawn.