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Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment

Posted by kdawson on from the it's-not-the-company-it's-the-hour dept.

markmcb writes "Most everyone knows and loves the MythBusters, two guys who attempt to set the story straight on things people just take for granted. Well, maybe everyone except Brandon Hansen, who has offered them a taste of their own medicine as he busts the MythBusters' improper use of statistics in their experiment to determine whether yawning is contagious. While the article maintains that the contagion of yawns is still a possibility, Hansen is clearly giving the MythBusters no credit for proving such a claim, 'not with a correlation coefficient of .045835.'"

6 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Conversation slayer by Timesprout · · Score: 3, Funny

    Facinatingly detailed observations like this must go down a treat at the parties you attend Brandon Hansen.

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  2. Re:Well... by Max_Abernethy · · Score: 3, Funny

    pfft, more like underly critical guy.

  3. Re:Precision? by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Funny

    Heck, I yawned when I read the summary.

    Uh... wait a second... this is Slashdot. Why are you reading the article!?! :-)

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  4. Re:Submitter gets an F on this one by hmallett · · Score: 5, Funny

    (like 1.54 when going between inches and centimeters)

    1.54? Are you sure? Do you work for NASA?
  5. Statistics by argStyopa · · Score: 3, Funny

    The only scientifically relevant statistic for Mythbusters is that a high percentage of the audience (most of the men, and probably a significant fraction of the women) want to see them do more experiments with Kari in a body suit (ala the butt-moulding exercise).

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  6. Re:Well... by AGMW · · Score: 4, Funny
    What I can't work out is whether I'm yawning because I'm reading about yawning, or yawning because I'm reading about statistical analysis.

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