It’s the weekend, and you decide to pay a visit to your grandma, who lives alone. When you arrive, however, you realize she has another visitor, and you hear through the door the two of them laughing.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. A robot that laughs might be seen as ominous, but would it appear ...

Most of us can tell the difference between a belly-busting laugh in reaction to a cat video and a weak chuckle following a coworker’s corny joke. But can robots? In a recent study published in the ...

This study is a pivotal step towards adding humanness to robots. Laughter is a very privileged and complex human emotion. The sense of humour differs from person to person. Even the type and extent of ...

robots are famously cold, hard and unfeeling, so they may not be the greatest audience for your favourite knock-knock joke. However, scientists in Japan are looking to change their reputation, by ...

Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably ...

Since at least the time of inquiring minds like Plato, philosophers and scientists have puzzled over the question, “What’s so funny?” The Greeks attributed the source of humor to feeling superior at ...