Scientists With Sense Of Humor Explore Dangers Of Laughter
I want what this dog is having. Licensed under Creative Commons. PearlsandaCardi via Flickr Over the holidays, the British Medical Journal publishes a special edition, in which they "are pleased to consider all kinds of articles." All kinds, indeed. In this "narrative synthesis," the researchers attempt to answer the question "is laughter really the best medicine?" The short answer: not really, apparently. The study includes many interesting ways in which laughter is beneficial, as well as an odd list of harmful consequences. Researchers have been looking into this funny business for years, learning about laughing through the hard times, the evolutionary origins of laughter, how it affects pain thresholds, among other topics. But for this study, the researchers analyzed studies from two different journals dating back to 1946, controling for scientists' names that...