Humor

A glance at the news shows that times are tough, as they always are. But while we humans seem to be primarily concerned with making life difficult for each other, we also have an antidote: laughter. We laugh with each other, we laugh at each other, and if we're lucky, we can also laugh at ourselves. Because laughter liberates. And laughter exposes. Even sarcasm – which not everyone considers exclusively healthy – helps in times of need.

But where does humor come from? What is it anyway? What does expectation have to do with it and what about the feeling of superiority? Does it possibly say something about our personality, our intelligence, perhaps even our mental health? We explore questions like these in this topic. Psychologically, neurobiologically, zoologically, and, with a little help from Torsten Sträter, also very practically, with a view beyond our horizon.