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Science Weekly

The science of laughing

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2938 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2024

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Madeleine Finlay speaks to Sophie Scott, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London, to dig into the science of laughter. Sophie explains what exactly laughter is, the many different purposes it serves for humans and animals, and how prioritising it could make us all feel a little better. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is The Guardian.

0:02.0

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0:39.2

This message was paid for by Uniclo. A recent study from researchers at the Free University Amsterdam found that around 62% of the

0:53.8

time, both people and AI, can differentiate

0:57.2

laughter that's produced by tickling versus everything else.

1:02.6

Chimpanzees have a different laugh when they're tickling than when they're trying to make

1:05.9

play last longer. But also, tickling itself doesn't seem to be something that's actually

1:10.4

wanted frequently.

1:12.0

Somebody's like, no, you've got your laugh, stop it now.

1:14.6

And it got the Science Weekly team thinking, what even is laughter?

1:19.9

Darwin thought it was an expression of joy.

1:21.9

And Panksep, who did a lot of work with mammals, he thought it was a play invitation.

1:26.8

What's its purpose? Why do we

1:29.2

create these huge gauphors, fall into fits of the giggles, snort and hooped with laughter? Often

1:36.7

at the silliest things. Who and what makes us laugh?

1:47.7

I was someone the other day who she'd been in a restaurant with her brother

1:51.1

and they laughed so much that somebody came over and said,

1:53.3

can I just ask me if you're married?

...

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