Being silly and indulging in humor may sound easy, but our brains need to do a lot of heavy lifting to pull it off. Landing a joke requires recognizing what’s socially acceptable, being spontaneous, predicting how others may react, and playfully violating some social expectations. Until now, researc...
One of my favorite videos is of two juvenile gorillas walking behind a silverback going into an enclosure. One of them gooses the silverback and then turns and runs, and the adult turns around and smacks the other.