# Why Are Yawns Contagious?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/iflscience-we-have-questions-7025311/why-are-yawns-contagious
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/iflscience-we-have-questions-7025311/why-are-yawns-contagious.md
Podcast: [IFLScience - We Have Questions](https://stenobird.com/podcast/iflscience-we-have-questions-7025311)
Published: 2025-07-21T08:39:08+00:00
Episode link: https://iflsciencewehavequestions.podbean.com/e/why-are-yawns-contagious/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/29mspytz22mtyxet/WHQ-E11-Yawning.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/iflscience-we-have-questions-7025311/episodes/why-are-yawns-contagious
Duration seconds: 2317

## Resource

It’s perhaps one of the greatest injustices of human bodily functions that the yawn has become so stigmatized in social settings. Crack one out and you’ll likely receive accusations of being bored or rude. It seems ironic, really, because the science of yawning tells us that, if anything, it’s a sign you’re trying harder to pay attention. That’s what we discovered when we sat down with Dr Andrew Gallup, Teaching Professor of Behavioral Biology at Johns Hopkins University and a bit of an expert in yawning. We wanted to find out why this open-mouthed action seems to be so incredibly catching, and discovered along the way that there’s a hell of a lot going on when we yawn.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/iflscience-we-have-questions-7025311/episodes/why-are-yawns-contagious/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/iflscience-we-have-questions-7025311/why-are-yawns-contagious.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.