We know that humor promotes health and fires up the brain’s engines to learn more. But have you ever considered what makes us laugh and what does not? In The Scientific Quest for the World’s Funniest Joke, we read three conditions for funny jokes.

Apparently jokes are funniest when we come away feeling superior, while others look stupid. For example, “A guy walks past an asylum, and can hear inmates inside screaming, “Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen!” he presses his face to a hole in the fence and suddenly feels a jab in the eye, followed by shouts from inmates…”Fourteen! Fourteen! Fourteen!.

We also laugh more at events that we’re taught to take seriously. How about this one listed… “For eighteen years my husband and I were the happiest people in the world. Then we met.”

It seems people also laugh most at incongruity, puns and word plays. Here’s the joke quoted to illustrate a play on words…” Guy comes to a local gym and asks… “Can you teach me how to do the splits?” Coach replies … “How flexible are you?    man shoots back … “I can’t make Tuesdays.”

What do you find funniest in a joke?

The book also tells us what makes people laugh least. People said they disliked jokes about fellow countryfolk. Check out this one to see if you agree…

When NASA first signed up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens do not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to create a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface - including glass - and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 degrees Celsius. The Russians used a pencil.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what makes mid-lifers laugh, and what doesn’t. Would you have chosen these for the top jokes in the world? What makes you laugh and what does not?

Three crows jockeyed for the highest perch in an oak tree outside my window yesterday for the better part of the afternoon. Two screamed at a contender who positioned on higher limbs, and the three yelled back relentless caws, to stake their claim on a top branch.

Then this morning, on my drive home a Rotary breakfast meeting,  I heard NPR’s Morning Edition announcer speak of the power of power to alter moods. Studies, for instance, show a marked increased in serotonin, when people gain power.  Good or bad?  You’d likely be interested  to make people drunk.

Have you noticed power’s ability to anger crows or inebriate people?Coincidentally, I dropped into Starbucks for a latte and a New York Times, only to read another “power story.”  Pankaja Mishra’s article titled … “Gaining Power, Losing Values,” claimed that “India, like China, is putting growth ahead of morality.”

What are the benefits or drawbacks of power in your life? Has it changed the way you think or act?

Seems quite a coincidence that within one morning two very different sources pointed to power’s effect in the brain and in people’s lives. What do you think? 

Good news just came in from Public Library of Science about  a hopeful finding for those who hope to rejuvenate damaged or aging brain tissue. Newly born neurons, produced continually in the hippocampus area, come with similar abilities as mature neurons. See these  dentate granule cells labeled with green and red fluorescent proteins. 

How these “adult-born” cells build their connections with the rest of the brain, and the extent to which they resemble new-born cells, would help scientists coax back cells lost with age.

Researchers used retroviruses to introduce one kind of fluorescent protein into the developing neurons and a second protein into the adult mouse brain. As a result of this treatment, the newly-born cells fluoresced green and the adult-born cells fluoresced red, so they could be observed for differences.

Through observation, researchers discovered that connections formed,  evoked similar responses in both neuron types. Both cell types responded in the same dynamic manner to the stimulation, suggesting their ability to undergo synaptic plasticity.

 
This discovery affirms the fact that at least some neurons that develop in adult brains can form connections that are indistinguishable from connections formed by neurons developed early in life. Some mid-lifers make far better use of this news than others. The key is to do different things in new ways, and stay active. Does that discovery change how you’ll plan your day? It does mine – but first I am off to a Rotary breakfast. You?

New DNA tests show that we all came from African ancestors who, 60,000 years ago – began a remarkable journey. Follow your personal path from this unique group through mapping your genes.

Dr. Spencer Wells shows the new DNA analysis which includes a description of your ancient ancestors.  You also get an interactive map with genetic lineage around the globe and back through history which might surprise you.

Your blood samples can be processed in one of this DNA Project’s ten regional centers. Analysis is completed through a standardized set of scientific criteria. All data is uploaded into the central database, at the University of Arizona via Family Tree DNA, the leading genetic genealogy company which has been selected to perform the public participant testing for the Project.

The whole project sounds cool and since it’s a collaboration with National Geographic and IBM – it’s likely reliable. You can see sample results on their web site, if you are into looking deeper into roots – with a mind for checking into adventures of your ancestors.

You may well find be a few surprises that could even alter who you think you are - into who you’d like to become.