According to lore (because apparently before the Internet, if it appeared in writing it had to be true) diarist Samual Pepes originally said, "Laughter is the best medicine."

On a science site, we are inclined to note that 'medicine is the best medicine' - but studies have shown that laughter can't hurt ... and it may help.

How many times have you had some pithy comment in prose be misinterpreted when you just know that if the other people could simply hear your voice or see your face they would know how brilliant you are?

It happens a lot and emoticons, along with their evil cousin ALL CAPITALIZATION AND !!! PUNCTUATION, were invented to try and close the communications gap.  

Now European researchers at the PASION project have developed a suite of tools to add non-verbal cues to email, phone calls, chats and other channels of electronic communication.   Digital communication hasn’t the richness of face-to-face conversation because it cannot communicate the non-verbal cues and contextual information that are so important to us all.

Women get more knee injuries than men and new research from the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary say there may be a connection between the laxity of a woman's knee joint and her monthly hormone cycle.

The research project — a collaboration between kinesiology, engineering and health sciences researchers — has found that not all woman experience knee laxity at the same time of their menst rual cycle. The researchers speculate that this is likely why previous research in the area has largely discounted a connection between the hormone cycle and knee injury.

SHEFFIELD, England, April 17 /PRNewswire/ --

SHEFFIELD, England, April 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- Geographical Association's Manifesto, A Different View, is Launched Today.

Quick, can you answer the question about the dog with the neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis?   If not, you'd be lost at Neurobowl, the highlight of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

Poseurs need not apply.  Though they all know the drinking game, these cats make fun of the medical riddles and the doctors on the TV show "House."   Except for Olivia Wilde ("Thirteen").   They all like her.

SAO PAULO, April 16 /PRNewswire/ --

Starting in May, buyers of all flex-fuel vehicles manufactured in Brazil by Fiat, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen will find extra reading material in the glove compartment of their new cars. Along with the owner's manual, they'll receive the Ethanol Handbook, a concise, to-the-point overview of the advantages of using ethanol instead of gasoline, produced by the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA).

HAMPSHIRE, England, April 16 /PRNewswire/ --

Incisor, the e-magazine product of Internet publishing company Click I.T. Ltd, has succeeded where others have failed, by bringing together the heads of each of the competing short-range wireless technologies - i.e. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ultra-wideband, DECT, ZigBee, EnOcean and NFC.

If you have suffered the flu recently, then you know that it’s quite miserable. All of the sneezing, sore throat, fever and aching can really put a damper on your day (or week for some of us). Even taking preventative measures like getting that season’s “flu shot” may not be enough to protect you from a highly infectious strain of influenza.

LONDON, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Colgate-Palmolive is taking the precautionary measure of voluntarily recalling its Twister Fresh toothbrush in the UK and Ireland, following reports from a small number of UK consumers of breaking brush heads or handles. The toothbrush can be identified by the words Twister Fresh on the back of the handle. No other Colgate toothbrush is affected.

The Twister Fresh brushes are being temporarily removed from store shelves. Consumers who have purchased the brush should not use it and can contact Colgate Consumer Affairs at 00-800-321-321-32 for a replacement.

Colgate-Palmolive Press Office: +44-(0)207-331-5445