Audio

Laughing out loud

What science has to say about why we “haha”

February 9, 2012

What begins before we can speak, is subconscious, and even somewhat sexist? Also, you rarely do it when you’re alone… Give up? I’ll give you one more hint. Other animals have this behavior as well. Still no clue? I’m talking about laughing, of course.

We all laugh almost every day, and usually it’s associated with some sort of social stimulation. So the real question is why do we do it? If laughter seems to be so important to the human condition, how did it evolve in the first place?

Scienceline explores those questions and a few others in this podcast on why we get the giggles.

Are you hooked? You can download and enjoy this and other Scienceline podcasts on iTunes!

About the Author

Miriam Kramer

Miriam graduated with her degree in journalism and anthropology from the University of Tennessee. Although she fully intended on majoring in English when first entering college, Miriam instead fell in love with the sciences. Not willing to give up writing, she combined her two passions and fell head first into science writing. You can follow her on Twitter!

Discussion

1 Comment

Gregory Button says:

Very well done. The podcast is both entertaining and informative!

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