Laughter is as natural as we ourselves are. But there are certain crazy facts about it that would make you chuckle. Here are these,
Humans laughed before they spoke
Some scientists believe that laughter was used as a way for humans to relate to one another millions of years before they developed the lung strength for language. The mechanism of laughter is so ingrained in our brains that babies as young as 17 days old have been observed doing it. In fact, children born blind and deaf still have the ability to laugh.
Laughter is actually rarely tied to humor
A study found that out of 1,200 “laugh episodes,” only about 10 percent were generated by a joke. Laughter really has a bonding function between individuals in a group.
Rats and monkeys laugh
It may sound strange, but several scientists have elicited “tickle-induced vocalizations” from primates. Penny Paterson, president of the Gorilla Foundation says that Koko, the gorilla famous for her sign language abilities, even had a special “ho, ho,” for visitors she liked. And rats apparently have very ticklish necks. When Bowling Green State University scientist Jaak Panksepp and his graduate students tickled baby rats’ napes, the rodent emitted high-frequency chirps that Panksepp interpreted as laughter.
Laughter controls our brains
When you see people laughing, you just can’t help but smile, right? That’s because your brain makes it nearly impossible not it. That’s the result of research from the lab of Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at University College London. When she monitored subjects’ brains while she played laughing sounds, she found that the premotor cortical region of the brain, which prepares the muscles in the face to move, was activated.
Laughing burns calories
No joke! Just 10 to 15 minutes of laughing a day can burn up to 40 calories, according to a Vanderbilt University study. Researchers determined that the increase in heart rate and oxygen consumption during these funny moments boosted the burn.
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