Everybody gossips. The surprise, though, is that most people aren’t walking around whispering “Did you hear what so and so did last weekend?” in their coworkers’ ears. Instead, they’re just sharing information about the people in their lives with those around them.

Humans are hardwired to care about the lives of people who are friends, foes or family. But why do we care about famous people we’ve never actually met? Consciously, you know they don’t matter and you’re not going to meet them, but they press the same buttons in our brains as people who do matter to us

Social scientists have found that everyone is hardwired to pay attention to gossip, and to participate in it. In fact, it’s an evolutionary adaptation – it’s become human nature.