So Einstein finally finished that theory about space he's been working on.

愛因斯坦終於完成了他一直以來致力的太空理論

It's about time, too. Right?

也差不多是時間了，對吧?

[laughter]

[笑聲]

Any of you know how to throw a space party? I guess you just planet!

你知道如何辦一場太空派對嗎? 我猜大概只要計畫一下就好了(planet音近plan it)

[laughter]

[笑聲]

Celebrity gossip! Oxygen and magnesium are dating. O-Mg!

名人八卦！氧氣(O2)跟鎂(Mg)在交往！O-Mg(=oh my god我的天啊)

[laughter]

[笑聲]

On the surface, laughter appears to be an unconscious, instantaneous reaction to something

表面上來看，笑似乎是我們對於一種東西無意識、即時性的反應

that pleases us rather than displeases us,

比起讓我們不開心，其實它讓我們感到愉快

but laughter is actually much more complicated than that,

但笑聲比起開心與否其實是更複雜的一件事

and it has surprisingly little to do with the human sense of humor.

而且很意外的，這跟人類的幽默感其實沒什麼關聯

Now, I promise for the rest of this video, I'm only going to make science puns… periodically.

現在，我保證這部影片接下來，我要來用很多的科學雙關語...有週期性的

[MUSIC]

[音樂]

Laughter is one of those rare and beautiful things shared by people all over Earth,

笑是人類在世界上所分享的最美好的事情之一

a human experience that transcends borders of language, geography, and lifestyle.

這是一個人類能夠跨越語言、地區以及生活模式的經驗

No one has to teach us to laugh, and people everywhere do it pretty much the same way.

沒有人需要教我們如何去笑，而世界各地的人都用差不多的方式笑

But it’s also really, really strange. [laughing]

但這真的，真的，真的很奇怪 [笑]

Squeezing up your face and gnashing your teeth at other people while uncontrollably grunting

對著別人把你的臉擠在一團，然後牙齒磨來磨去，同時還無法克制的發出咯咯響

and hyperventilating, that’s a very weird thing to do. You’re weird. We’re all weird.

並且強力快速的呼吸，那是一件很怪的事。你很奇怪，我們都很奇怪。

Laughing isn’t that different from breathing. We have incredibly fine muscle control over

笑其實跟呼吸沒有太大的差別。我們有非常好的肌肉去控制

how we let out breath, it’s what lets us make the intricate and detailed vocal noises

我們如何呼氣，也就是讓我們發出複雜且細節的聲音的原因

that we call speech.

換言之，也就是「說話」

But while we write out laughter with ha ha ha, it’s not really something we speak.

我們用"HAHAHA"來描述笑聲，但那根本不是我們真的發聲的方式

If I actually laughed like “HA HA HA” then laughter would be even weirder than it already is

如果我真的"HAHAHA"笑，那麼笑聲會比之前更奇怪了

and like I said, plenty weird.

就像我說的，怪到不行

Laughing is this sort of “heh heh heh” percussive air squeezing,

笑其實比較接近"heh heh heh"，衝擊性的空氣擠壓

maybe the simplest vocal noise we can make.

可能是我們能發出最簡單的聲音

If we think of talking like playing human bagpipes, constant pressure and intricate control,

如果我們把講話想成在吹人體口風笛，需要持續性的壓力以及複雜的控制

then laughing like one of those silly little horns.

那麼「笑」就很像那種很蠢的小喇叭

Think humans are the only animals that laugh? Not by a long shot. Primates do it,

你以為人類是唯一會笑得動物嗎？遠遠不止呢！靈長類動物會笑、

dogs do a form of laughter, even rats do it. Yes, even rats.

狗也會有某種笑聲的形式，甚至老鼠也會笑！沒錯，即使老鼠也會！

The folks from Radiolab got it on tape.

我們在Radiolab的同事把她錄下來了！

[sound of rat "laughing"]

[老鼠的"笑聲"]

In animals, sometimes it’s associated with tickling, sometimes with play,

對動物而言，有時候笑跟搔癢有關聯、有時候跟遊戲玩樂

but laughing is almost always social.

但笑幾乎就是社群生活的一部份

Same goes for us. Humans laugh for a number of reasons, but most of the time it has nothing

對我們人類也是一樣的。人為很多原因而笑，但大部分的時候

to with funny business. Researchers like Robert Provine have found, after listening to hundreds

跟有趣的事都沒關係。如Robert Provine的研究學者已經發現，在聽過數百個

of people laugh in social situations, less than 1 in 5 chuckles are in response to humor,

人在社交交場合的笑聲後，五個人中不到一個人是因為回應好笑的事才笑的

and when a joke is involved, the person telling it is far more likely to be the one laughing.

而當講笑話的時候，講笑話的那個人通常就是那個真的在笑的人

We’re also 30 times more likely to laugh with other people around than if we’re are alone.

比起自己一個人的時候，我們跟別人在一起時有三十倍的可能比較容易笑

If laughter is a form of communication, then what are we trying to say?

如果笑是一種溝通的形式，那我們想要表達的什麼？

We do it to communicate understanding, to show we like and accept others,

我們去表達理解、表達我們喜歡也接受他人

to diffuse awkward situations, and yes, sometimes even to be mean.

去緩解尷尬的局面，而且沒錯，有時候用來傳達鄙視

On January 30, 1962, at a boarding school in Tanzania, three young girls started giggling.

在1962年1月30日，在坦桑尼亞的一間寄宿學校，三個小女生開始咯咯笑

Their laughter spread throughout the school, uncontrollably, and ultimately 95 students

這個笑聲無法控制的散及了整間學校，最終95個學生

experienced laughing fits. One even laughed for 16 days straight.

經歷了無法停止狂笑的困境中，其中一個人甚至笑了16天都沒有停

As a result of this “omuneepo” the school was temporarily closed, but the laughing spread

因為這種"笑到死"的現象，學校只好暫時關閉，但笑聲傳到了

to the girls home villages, eventually this side-splitting mystery infected hundreds of people

這些女孩們的家鄉村莊、最後這個不可思議的影響了上百個人

before dying out as suddenly as it began.

在有人突然猝死之前

Like yawning, laughter is surprisingly contagious, kind of like a behaviour germ.

跟打哈欠一樣，笑聲也神奇的會傳染，有點像是行為病菌

We’re much more likely to catch laughter from people we know,

我們也更容易因為我們認識的人而笑

which just goes to show how much more it is about bonding than humor.

表現出了比起幽默，人之間的關係其實更為重要

In close relationships, couples who use laughter to cope with stressful situations tend to

在一段親密關係中，能夠用笑容來化解壓力情況的情侶

stay together longer and report higher satisfaction. Laughter apparently helps us love.

傾向能夠在一起比較久，並且滿意度也比較高。笑很明顯的幫助我們去愛。

"Laughing exercise for the heart and mind. What you can do? Just laugh. Very easy.

心靈跟腦部的笑容運動。你可以怎麼做呢？笑就好了，非常簡單

Don't feel shy!"

不要害羞！

[laughter]

[笑聲]

Laughter is amazingly hard to fake, and our brains are really good at telling the difference.

笑聲超難假裝，並且我們的大腦很容易就可以分辨出差別

Listen to these clips and see if you can tell which one is real and which one is fake.

請聽這兩段錄音並看看你可不可以分辨出哪個是真的，哪個是假的

[laughter]

[笑聲]

Younger people are less able to tell real laughter from fake laughter, but they are

年輕的然比較難去分辨真假笑聲，但他們

more susceptible to contagious laughter, which is maybe why it’s easy to make a baby do

比較能夠受笑聲傳染的影響，這就是為什麼很容易的讓小嬰兒...

this.

這樣

[laughter]

[笑聲]

But if we are so good at telling real from fake laughter, and laughter is ultimately

但如果我們可以很好的分辨真假笑聲，而笑容最終

a form of communication, then why do we laugh at movies?

是一種溝通的形式，那為什麼我們看電影會笑呢？

[laughter]

[笑聲]

In the higher-order parts of our brain, we’re consciously awared that the actors we are watching are not present with us,

在我們大腦的某個比較高組織部份，我們可以意識到那些電影中的演員並不是實際跟我們在一起

and that they are pretending.

而他們只是在假裝

But maybe the fact that we can laugh at what we know to be fake is the ultimate case of suspending our disbelief,

但事實上我們之所以可以因為那些我們知道是假的事情而笑，最終我們會停止自己的不信任

when we watch something on a screen, we really do believe the people

幫我們在看螢幕上看某些東西的時候，我們真的相信那些人

are right there with us, and that we know them, at least in some way.

就在我們身邊，而我們真的認識他們，至少在某種程度上

Maybe we should all try and laugh more, and with each other.

或許我們應該盡可能試著多笑，並且跟彼此一起

It’s not only a way to feel better, but feel better together.

這不只是一種讓你自己感覺比較好的方法，也能夠讓你們在一起時更開心

Stay curious.

保持好奇心