LMAO

Since I love to laugh, I decided to pick the Radio Lab story titled "Laughter." In this episode, Radio Lab tries to figure out the meaning behind laughter.
As Radio Lab attempts to explain laughter's purpose, they refer to Aristotle's thoughts on the subject-it is what separates humans from beasts and a baby is without a soul until it laughs. A baby's first laugh, in Aristotle's mind, takes place when the baby is 40 days old. Since Radio Lab leaves no questions left unanswered, they go to psychobiologist Dr. Jaak Panksepp to test Aristotle’s hypothesis. For this experiment, Dr. Panksepp tickles rats. The rats laugh and even follow the ‘tickler’s’ hand after it is removed. They seem to find pleasure in laughing. For the baby experiment, Radio Lab works with their producer Amanda Aronczyk who just had a baby. The baby did not laugh until the 97^th day. Both of these dispelling the thoughts of ancient philosopher, Aristotle.
Laughing is a social thing that is neurologically programmed by evolution. Without an outside source, there is no laughter. For example, if you are sitting at home all alone-with no media-you will not laugh. Even thinking about something funny, is an outside source, so that doesn’t count either. Because chimps laugh, we can conclude that it was programmed by evolution. The only difference between a chimp’s and a human being’s laugh is the “H” sound made in “haha.” A chimp only uses the “a” sound, making it sound like it is panting.
Radio Lab concludes the episode with a story about a small town in Tanzania in the year 1962, when a laughing epidemic struck. A girl in a boarding school was taking a math test and just began laughing. The laughing spread from girl to girl, and eventually throughout the entire school. The laughing lasted anywhere from a day, to a few days. The laughing was intermixed with crying too. Radio Lab went to Tanzania to find the meaning behind this event. While their reporter was there, she heard different reasons including an ‘adolescent girl laughing syndrome’ in which the young girl laughs to ensure safety, and there was also the thought that it was a curse brought upon the town by caterpillars. Radio Lab finally found a man that was actually apart of the sickness. The man claimed that nearly a couple weeks before the event, the village received independence from Britain. A new political system was introduced along with Christianity. The villagers lost their former freedoms. This is the reason that the man thinks the laughter started. The dramatic change caused silence and grief. Once the girl laughed, everyone couldn’t help but to laugh with her. They hadn’t done it in so long. It was a form of release, of independence.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/02/22