Scientists have just unlocked one of life's great wonders: why we laugh. Maybe you don't want to know, but don't worry: knowing why you laugh isn't going to stop you from laughing.

It's quite simple, really, according to the study by Alistaire Clark (which as far as I can tell isn't funny at all): We laugh because our brains encounter patterns they don't recognize, and in the process of computing -- or understanding -- the pattern, the physiological response of laughter just happens, involuntarily.

Could this mean there's an evolutionary function to those guffaws, chortles, and tee-hees? After all, why else would we need to express to the world that our brains just encountered a new pattern? It could be a survival mechanism, or a means of coping with sudden confusion, allowing us a pleasurable sensation while we figure out how to negotiate this strange new information.

In any case, I have a few questions for Mr. Clark: First, if laughter is caused by encountering a new pattern, why do we laugh at the same joke -- or line quoted from a favorite comedy -- over and over again? Second, why don't all foreign patterns register as humorous? Some are outright terrifying, like when a monster in a horror movie has eyes on its knuckles and seventeen tentacles growing out of its chest. That's certainly a new pattern for an earthly lifeform -- but it ain't funny. Unless, of course, it's on The Simpsons. But why is it funny then, but not in a John Carpenter film?

And what about learning algebra? I don't remember doing a lot of laughing then. Or getting tickled... What kind of new pattern is that?

[Image Credit: David Alm]