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Episode details

World Service,1 min

Are we the descendants of busybodies?

CrowdScience

Available for over a year

As humans started to live in larger groups, working cooperatively was key to survival. Professor Frank McAndrew from Knox College explains how gossiping became a way of establishing reputations and keeping wayward members of the group in line. Frank has conducted experiments to find out what types of salacious stories people are most interested in and who they are most likely to share these with.

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