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The science of Haha, snort, grunt, laugh, haha

By omnibrain on March 13, 2007.

i-d44728888cd67189b7ec1e75c34fb1a4-AGPix_Angier_0038.jpgThere is an article by John Tierney in the NYT and a post on his blog about the science of humor. Here's a little sampler of the artcle:

So there are these two muffins baking in an oven. One of them yells, "Wow, it's hot in here!"

And the other muffin replies: "Holy cow! A talking muffin!"

Did that alleged joke make you laugh? I would guess (and hope) not. But under different circumstances, you would be chuckling softly, maybe giggling, possibly guffawing. I know that's hard to believe, but trust me. The results are just in on a laboratory test of the muffin joke.

Laughter, a topic that stymied philosophers for 2,000 years, is finally yielding to science. Researchers have scanned brains and tickled babies, chimpanzees and rats. They've traced the evolution of laughter back to what looks like the primal joke -- or, to be precise, the first stand-up routine to kill with an audience of primates.

The Tierney Lab Blog takes a different tact and asks what the gender differences are and how they come about.
Head on over there and participate in the debate.

As for comments here... lets hear some really really bad jokes :)

Tags
Psychology

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I _really_ liked Ryan's joke. does this make me a bad person?