Ridley,
Matt. “The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned.” The Wall Street Journal. 30 November, 2012. Web. 2 December, 2012 <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323330604578143174255401726.html?mod=WSJ_0_0_WP_2715_RIGHTTopCarousel_1>.
Just about everyone yawns at least once per day, either
when they wake up or when they find themselves staring at the clock at work or
school. However, for an action so common
and so seemingly simple on the surface, the truth is that scientists do not
know a lot about why we yawn. “The
Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned” was written after a recent study
proved that babies yawn while in utero.
The article details the findings of that study along with those of other
recent scientific research about yawning.
The fact that babies yawn while in the womb may seem insignificant, as
people yawn every day and it is no big deal.
But the reason that this study is so important is that it suggests that
a previous theory (we yawn to fill our lungs with oxygen or to empty them of
carbon dioxide) is no longer valid, thus leaving us with no real explanation
for why we yawn. The article continues,
detailing what scientists presently know about yawning- that it is triggered by
boredom and by stress, and is contagious.
A study with chimps led to the conclusion that chimps (and most likely
this carries over to people) yawn more when they witness chimps that they know
yawning, rather than “stranger” chimps.
Since yawns are so common, it is natural to question
where they come from, even though they have no glaringly negative consequences. If, however, scientists can find substantial
evidence indicating why people yawn, that evidence could lead to future important
discoveries. For example (this is purely
speculative), if yawns relieve stress by releasing a certain chemical in the
body, scientists could possibly use that knowledge to formulate a natural
stress-reliever.
I liked that the article incorporated multiple studies,
but I wish that it had expanded a little more upon each one. Also, I felt the article was a little
anti-climactic. That is, I feel that as
a reader, I began not knowing why people yawn and ended still uncertain why
people yawn. While I understand that no
one knows exactly why people yawn, I feel that the author could have offered a
future direction for studies on yawning and what sort of impact they could have
on society.
Elizabeth’s review of “The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned” is creative in its speculations upon the significance of learning why we yawn, concise in its summary, and interesting in its choice of subject matter. Her paragraph and her idea about the discovery of the reason behind yawning is creative in that it uses knowledge that we have accumulated this year to speculate in an imaginative way. She suggests that scientists will be able to use they know about yawning to create stress-relievers that can target certain receptors in our brains, which is related to what we learned in Chapter 11: Cell Communication in the textbook. Her summary is very easy to follow and understand, highlighting the main points of the article in a clear way. Finally, the subject matter is unique – so far this year, article reviews have been about disease, progress in lab-generated organs, and like topics, but none have been about a question that is so speculative as, “Why do we yawn?” nor a question about an act so commonplace. As Elizabeth says, yawning is something we do every day, so it often goes unnoticed, yet no one knows the reason why it occurs.
ReplyDeleteThe review could have been made better if it linked the article to our course in a clearer way and if it had presented a larger amount of information upon how the study of yawning could impact the scientific world. While the article was interesting, it did not present a clear connection to what we are learning in class, which would have been helpful in showing us, as students, how scientific discoveries and studies connect to what goes on in the classroom. Also, even though she presented one creative idea upon the impact of yawning, the review would have been made better if Elizabeth had brought up at least one other consequence of the study, so that it would make more sense why it was being studied.
I was impressed by the fact that babies yawn while in the womb. Not only does this connect to the article’s topic of yawning, but it relates to the development of human beings. Yawning could be important not only in our everyday lives, but also to the growth of human beings as our bodies began to take shape within the utero.
I thought Elizabeth’s review of “The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned” was very informative. One thing I learned from this is that scientists do not know much about yawning. They only even recently found out that a previous theory of why we yawn, to fill our lungs with oxygen or to empty them of carbon dioxide, is no longer valid. Elizabeth clearly explained that this was proven when a study was conducted that showed that babies yawned while in utero. This also confirmed my inclinations that yawning is triggered by boredom and by stress and that it is contagious. It was very interesting to hear that a study including chimps concluded that chimps who witnessed chimps they know yawning would yawn more than when a stranger chimp yawned.
ReplyDeleteI thought the review could have mentioned more about the scientists behind these studies and the major experts of the field. This would have been interesting since many do not think to go into studying yawning. I also think mentioning a little more about the studies would have provided the reader with more information.
Overall I was surprised to learn that scientists do not know much about yawning. It seems that scientists know everything in this day and age but scientists not knowing exactly why yawning takes place shows that there is still much unknown in our world.
The reviewer did a great job of presenting “The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned.” The reviewer did a great job of presenting speculations that dealt with the scientific importance of why we yawn. While she may or may not be correct, the way she presenter her ideas helped the reader think differently about the implications of something that seems so meaningless like yawning. I also appreciated the fact that the reviewer kept her summary short and did not mention unnecessary details. Although at times it felt as if very little was being accomplished throughout the summary, this was largely due to the nature of the article that had very few answers and posed many questions. Finally, I thought the reviewer did a good job in explaining that the old theory about why we yawn, involving the intake of oxygen, is wrong because it has been shown that babies yarn while in utero.
ReplyDeleteWhile it was not necessarily the reviewer’s fault, I left the article with as many questions as answers. I would have liked to see the reviewer add additionally analysis regarding potential theories as to why we yawn. Furthermore, I feel that the reviewer could have added a little more detail at points in the article. Conciseness was appreciated, but at times there was room for more information that would have better illustrated the topics and how they connect to our bio class.
I was shocked to find that we still do not know why people yawn. Yawning is so prevalent and often goes unnoticed, and thus I had never taken to the time to research why it is that we yawn. I was very surprised to learn that we still don’t know the reasons why we yawn and are presently searching for them.
The review of “The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned” was well written and informative. The reviewer did a good job in mentioning that babies yawn in the womb. This is significant in the way that it informs us that previous theories of reasons for yawning are no longer valid. A good point was made in saying that although we do not know the reason for it, yawning can be triggered by boredom or stress and is contagious. Also, it is mentioned that yawning isn’t an action solely performed by humans. Animals like chimps also yawn and do so more when they witness it from familiar chimps than those who are “strangers” to them.
ReplyDeleteThough the review was informative, it would have been beneficial to mention some of the studies and experiments being conducted to try and find out the exact reasons we yawn. For example, an experiment was conducted where people pinched their noses or gritted their teeth while yawning. Mentioning the fact that in order to yawn completely, your mouth and jaw must be open wide would have been beneficial. This shows that while yawning happens often and unexpectedly, it can only happen under certain circumstances and can be stifled. Also mentioning that the release of oxytocin, which releases dopamine, is a speculation on why we may be yawning.
This article and review were interesting and I hadn’t realized that there was still no sure reason why yawning occurs. I was surprised to learn that yawning wasn’t an action only performed by humans, but other animals like chimpanzees. Hopefully, scientists will find a way to explain the sensation of yawning in the future…thinking yawning might be all in our heads considering I have yawned about 50 times reading both the article and review. ☺
I liked Elizabeth’s review of “The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned” by Matt Ridley. I particularly enjoyed her speculation on possible practical applications of knowing why we yawn: “scientists could possibly use that knowledge to formulate a natural stress-reliever”. Since she had a valid criticism of the article in that the author did not offer “a future direction for studies on yawning and what sort of impact they could have on society”, it was appreciated that she took it upon herself to do just that. It was also nice that she spent time in the summary section focusing upon the cause of the recent resurgence of why we yawn articles in the media, the study which demonstrated the frequency with which fetuses yawn in utero.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t like that Elizabeth left out a primary aim of the article she reviewed, which was to promote the book “Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping and Beyond”. I’m quite curious as to what might be beyond hiccupping, and despite the obvious use of a science article as advertising space (albeit space that, depending upon the contents of the book, might be well-deserved — or not), that promotion was an important part of the article she reviewed.
I love that despite all the research which has been conducted upon yawning, this simple, common, mundane phenomenon, we have pretty much no idea what its cause may be. This goes to show that despite the power of science and despite the rapid speed with which it bullishly pushes forth, it can still have a hard time recognizing the truths of seemingly simple behaviors, namely yawning.
Malika Laurence
ReplyDelete10/11/12
Blog Comments
Elizabeth’s review of “The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned.” was very well written. In her review, she included a lot of information about yawning and how the cause of it still remains unknown. She does a great job explaining the different studies that the author elaborates on, and clearly explained how the scientists know that their theories are incorrect. She explains that it was proven in a study that showed that babies yawned while in utero. She also did well in explaining that yawning is contagious. Additionally, Elizabeth did well on summarizing the article and avoiding clutter and too much detail. Her review encompassed the entire article yet she presented the information in a much more concise manner.
Although these were several positive components to her review, there were a few things that I thought were missing from her article review. I think she could have included more information about what research is being done now concerning yawning and its causes. I also think that she could have included a link to the article, as it would have made it more easily accessible and much more simple to find.
I learned a lot from reading Elizabeth’s review, and found it very interesting. I was surprised to learn that they had proved that the theory that yawning is to take in more oxygen is false, as this is what I have been told my entire life. I am intrigued by this mystery and I hope they find an answer soon!
Elizabeth's review and critique was well done, and I believe the article she chose,“The Unsolved Mystery of Why You Just Yawned", was an interesting for all. I've personally always wondered why we yawn and have heard many theories on why we for why we yawn cannot be true. I think that was an important part to mention because it stated why this theory was more valid than the others. I also liked how she kept the summary short and sweet as this article is about yawning and unwated details are not needed to help inform the reader of the main do. Elizabeth's mentioning of how the article stated babies yawn in the womb proved that many theories or explanations point of the article. Lastly this article is very relevant to the topic we just covered, cell to cell communication. She suggests that by becoming knowladgeable about why we yawn can possibly help create stress relivers and such.
ReplyDeleteWhile i appreciated the brevity of this article, I believe if Elizabeth went into more detail on some of the experiments being conducted to prove why we yawn, it would have been helpful, as well as it being very important to the article. In addition to this I think if she mentioned a brief biography or status of the scientist's reputation who are working on this study it would strengthen the argument made in this article that their theory should be accepted.
The most interesting part of this article I believe is the part that proved the theory that we yawn when we are lacking in oxygen due to reduced breahting and such. This was fascinating becasue we have to accept this thoery isnt true as babies have been recorded to yawn in the mother's womb, thus not yawning for more oxygen intake. I believe this made the topic of "yawning" a serious wonder to us and the science field.
Maddy Foley
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
12.11.2012
I read Elizabeth’s review of the New York Times article, “The Unsolved of Why I Just Yawned.” One thing Elizabeth did well was to address what is currently known by scientists about yawning. Firstly yawning is triggered by boredom or stress. Furthermore, humans tend to yawn when other people they know are yawning, similar to chimpanzees. This does not apply if it is a stranger. Secondly, she does well to note why it is important to continue researching yawning and specifically find indicating why people yawn. These discoveries could lead to very important future discoveries. For example, if yawns relieve stress by releasing certain chemicals in the body they could use this knowledge to formulate a natural stress reliever. Lastly, I think that Elizabeth outlined the presented material in a clear, comprehensible way, choosing the main points to express that the mysteries of yawning are still undiscovered.
One thing I think that the reviewer could have improved on was to include more information on exactly how the scientific tests on yawning were preformed. While she did include that a study was preformed on babies opening their mouths in the womb, I would have liked to understand further on how they obtained this data and then how they plan to conduct further experiments. The article included a few of the experiments of Dr. Robert Provine, which could have been included in the review to enhance the understanding and purpose of this article. Secondly I think the review could have been improved by including some of the speculations on why we do yawn. The article itself, presented the idea that yawning could be triggered by the hormone oxytocin-a hormone that is released during empathetic actions like touching, kissing, and cooperating. These speculations would make the reader feel more confident about this scientific advancement.
One thing I was surprised to discover in this review is that we still do not have a definitive reason for why we yawn. While science has made amazing advancements in some of the most complicated areas, it is interesting to see that we have still not uncovered these common phenomena. This may urge people to further research the advancements such discoveries could provide, and consider whether or not it is important to experiment with yawning further.