Yahoo reported that scientists at the University of Birbeck in London had published a paper stating that yawning is contagious between humans and dogs.
First of all, it should be remembered that thse 'scientists', who are conducting little more than a survey really, are getting paid a grant to fund this. So it better have some use. Except it doesn't, does it? What practical use is going to be served by this research that makes the cost (that's mainly in overinflated salaries) worthwhile? Why only concentrate on dogs? My rabbit regularly yawns back at me when I yawn at him. Also, the language of the paper suggests that nobody had ever thought to check if any species other than humans and chimpanzees felt compelled to yawn when somebody close to them yawned. Maybe nobody working for a university has but that's no reason to think that nobody else has. I don't buy the idea that we have put a man on the moon but nobody else, except me, has noticed that rabbits can yawn if you yawn at them. Perhaps it's because I treat my rabbit as an equal like many people treat their dogs whereas a lot of people treat rabbits as inherently inferior to them.
Anyway, the reason we should be concerned, unless you are also involved in some money making industry spouting useless research, is that it's taxpayers' money going into thise frivolous 'research'.
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