Science News Review

Professor Traces the Biological Source of Humor

Dec 25 at 8:08pm by Aileen

Humor Develops From Aggression Caused By Male Hormones

Sam Shuster, Described as a “Professor” (but with no indication of what he’s a ‘professor’ of) got a paper published in the British Medical Journal this week claiming that he’s figured out that the human capacity for humor develops from aggression caused by male hormones.

Professor Shuster figured this out by riding a unicycle around the streets of Newcastle upon Tyne and noticing the reactions he got from people of various ages. Those responses were predictable droll jokes, which indicated to Shuster that such jokes must have a biological cause. And because the most aggressive reactions came from young men, he’s convinced it has something to do with androgens in teenage boys. Most adult women responded with praise or encouragement instead of jokes, so apparently women - at least in one town in England - don’t have a sense of humor.

Now, this doesn’t appear to explain much about how my mother managed to keep her sharp wit and wicked sense of humor even as she was dying of COPD, or how my grandmother is still fondly recalled by everyone lucky enough to have known her as the funniest human being ever. Shuster did admit that he went for the “simplest explanation” for why teenage boys were so aggressive about his mode of transportation, and for the oh, so predictable jokes. Had to be the testosterone, but not the spectacle of some guy peddling down the street on a unicycle. Which I’m here to tell you is not the most efficient or graceful mode of transportation ever invented. There’s a reason you don’t see unicyclists in the Tour de France.

Perhaps if the professor were to wear a nice bowler and take up juggling the reactions might be less aggressive and probably a lot more lucrative. People are quite used to tossing money into the hat of buskers, after all. Or he could stay home and catch up on all the old episodes of I Love Lucy, see if he can explain how she got to be so funny without chest hair and six-pack abs.

Still, I’m sure that getting his research published in the British Medical Journal is a feather in Shuster’s cap, no matter what kind of cap he wears, or what it is he’s a professor of. This doesn’t appear to be research that was funded by tax money, so it’s all good.