If you think laughter and comedy are reserved strictly for humans, you’d be wrong. A study in the late 1990s showed that creatures like rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations while playing with or ...

A team of scientists set out to answer the all-important question: why does tickling make us laugh? And they used rats to help them in their quest. (@angelikakade) has the story. A team of scientists ...

Don’t try this at home, but tickling a gorilla, orangutan, bonobo or chimp can inspire bursts of grunting sounds. Yes, that’s laughter, says Marina Davila Ross of the University of Portsmouth in ...

Tell a silly joke, sneeze at a rather inopportune moment, remember something that embarrassed a good friend, forget which suit is trump in the card game you’re playing…there are a thousand and one ...