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Laughter may well be the best medicine

Shingo Ito | Osaka, Japan

January 12, 2006

(excerpt)

 

It's been said laughter is the best medicine, but no one has yet proved it. Now a Japanese scientist is unlocking the secrets of the funny bone, which he believes can cheer up people's genes.

Geneticist Kazuo Murakami has teamed up on the study with an unlikely research partner: stand-up comedians, who he hopes -- no joke -- can turn their one-liners into efficient, low-cost medical treatment.

Genes are usually regarded as immutable, but in reality more than 90% of them are dormant or less active in producing protein, so some types of stimulation can wake them up.

 

Murakami's tentative theory is that laughter is one such stimulant, which can trigger energy inside a person's DNA, potentially helping cure disease.

 

"If we prove people can switch genes on and off by an emotion like laughter, it may be the finding of the century which should be worth the Nobel Prize or even go beyond that," said Murakami (70), director of Japan's Foundation for Advancement of International Science.

 

For the full article go to

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/other_news/&articleid=261098

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