WEIRD OR WHAT: Weird things that humans do

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

Gossip

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If you're like most humans, then you've probably been on at least one end of the grapevine a few times. Like it or not, gossip is a part of everyday life. In fact, scientists speculate that gossip may actually bring us humans closer together.

Robin Dunbar, a primatologist at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, likens gossip to the constant grooming of other primates. Baboons pick bugs out of each other's back hair; we humans talk about others behind their backs. It's the verbal glue that keeps our social bonds strong, according to Dunbar.

Other researchers, such as Jennifer Bosson, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, agree that sharing our dislikes of others helps develop a bond between the gossiper and the listener.

"When two people share a dislike of another person, it brings them closer," Bosson told Live Sciencein 2006. 


Have brain farts

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Forgetting tidbits of information isn't weird at all, but forgetting facts that you really ought to know — like why you just walked into a room or the name of your own child — is definitely a little odd. Yet, these so-called brain farts occur rather frequently for us humans.

Lots of things can cause your memory to lag, according to researchers. Some of the most common culprits are stress and sleep deprivation. But you don't have to be going through a rough patch to forget important stuff; something as simple as opening a door can trigger a brain fart, according to a study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2011.

Get bored

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Everybody gets bored sometimes. But, if you really think about it, feelings of boredom are pretty strange. After all, there's a whole wide world full of stuff to do. How could humans ever lack for something to keep us occupied?

It turns out that boredom isn't really about keeping busy. Boredom stems from an objective lack of neurological excitement, which brings about a subjective psychological state of dissatisfaction, frustration or disinterest, according to researchers who study this yawn-inducing subject.

And some people are more prone to boredom than others. People who have conditions that affect their ability to pay attention (like ADHD) might be more susceptible to boredom, according to a study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science in 2012. Age might also play a role in determining someone's susceptibility to boredom. Researchers have found that people nearing the end of their young adulthood, around age 22, may be less likely than teenagers to get bored.

"In that age range, the frontal cortex is in the final stages of maturation," and this part of the brain helps with self-control and self-regulation," James Danckert, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, told Live Science in September 2016. 

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking

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