Are they laughing at you or laughing with you? Your brain can tell the difference. Curious about how different types of laughter — mocking, joyful or ticklish — are understood, researchers led by Dirk ...

So why is laughter so hard to control? Research suggests that there are two kinds of laughs: helpless, involuntary laughter ...

As the world celebrates International Day of Happiness today (Thursday, 20 March), can we tell whether people are truly happy just from their laugh? "During our study, when participants heard a laugh ...

Laughter is truly contagious, and now, scientists studying how our brain responds to emotive sounds believe they understand why. Cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew's description of Ian Botham's freak ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David DiSalvo writes about science, tech and culture. Intuitively we know that laughter is one of the best tools we have for ...

Even in the hardest of times, laughter has a steadfast ability to bring people together. A new study reveals how laughter affects the brain, which may help to explain why having a giggle plays such an ...

An unexpected giggle during tense moments isn't humor, but your brain's stress regulator. This nervous laughter, a coping mechanism, lowers cortisol and activates relaxation. It protects you by ...

Any infant left on a doorstep can safely bet that whoever finds her will be compelled to protect her. Nature cleverly designed babies to be super cute: They would be too much of a drag to care for ...

Brain surgery is normally no laughing matter, but now neuroscientists at Emory University may have found a way to make it so. The team discovered that electrically stimulating a brain region known as ...

Unusual or uncontrollable laughter can signal serious health issues, according to neurologist Dr. Sudhir Kumar. Conditions like gelastic seizures, laughter-induced syncope, pathological laughter, and ...