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Ahead of the Machynlleth Comedy Festival, Adam Walton is taking a closer look at the science and psychology of humour this week. Laughter has been around for a very long time - and while we regard it as a human thing, primates have been having a laugh for millions of years. Dr Gil Greencross, an evolutionary psychologist and humour researcher at Aberystwyth University,聽says apes聽smile for different reasons to humans. He has studied the way humour is used by聽humans to attract mates. It seems that聽women聽believe funny men are more intelligent - while men are attracted to women who laugh at their jokes!

Laughter usually occurs when you're feeling happy.聽Neuroscientist and comedian Dean Burnett聽has written The Happy Brain - The Science聽of Where Happiness Comes From and Why. He explains that happiness is an extremely complex emotion and聽there's no neat hypotheses or 'checklist' to feeling good.

Comedians make you laugh, of course. And scientists can make good comedians. Ten years ago, 聽Dr Steve Cross founded The Bright Club,聽helping scientists turn their research into a stand-up routine.聽And comedian聽Carys Eleri聽聽tell Adam why science is such a rich seam of comedy for her.聽

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