Laughter

Laughter is a physical reaction in humans and some other species of primate, consisting typically of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli. Laughter can arise from such activities as being tickled, or from humorous stories or thoughts. Most commonly, it is considered a visual expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth, happiness, relief, etc. On some occasions, however, it may be caused by contrary emotional states such as embarrassment, apology, or confusion such as nervous laughter or courtesy laugh. Age, gender, education, language, and culture are all factors as to whether a person will experience laughter in a given situation.

Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain, helping humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and providing an emotional context to conversations. Laughter is used as a signal for being part of a group — it signals acceptance and positive interactions with others. Laughter is sometimes seen as contagious, and the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others as a positive feedback. This may account in part for the popularity of laugh tracks in situation comedy television shows.

Intastella

Intastella were an alternative rock band from Manchester who evolved from the earlier band Laugh. They had four top-75 hits in the UK during the 1990s.

History

Laugh formed in 1985 with a line-up of Martin Wright (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Ian Bendelow (guitar), Martin Mittler (bass guitar), and Spencer Birtwistle (drums, later a member of The Fall). Their debut release was "Take Your Time Yeah!", a flexi-disc included with Debris magazine in December 1985, with three further singles following prior to their only album, Sensation No. 1 (1988). The band had two placings on the UK Independent Chart with "Paul McCartney" (which featured Smiths guitarist Craig Gannon) (#44) and "Time to Lose It" (#19), and recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show.

In 1990 the band parted ways with guitarist Bendelow and discovered singer Stella Grundy and dancer Lil' Anthony, changing their sound to a more dance-orientated style and changing their name to Intastella. They signed to MCA Records and hit the lower reaches of the UK Singles Chart with their first release, "Dream Some Paradise". Two follow-up singles fared similarly, and in late 1991 the band's debut album, Intastella and the Family of People was issued. The band's momentum was lost after Grundy broke her arm in a motorcycle accident, and they were dropped by MCA, returning in 1993 on the Planet-3 label with the Drifter EP, on which they worked with Shaun Ryder. The band's biggest hit came in 1995, with "The Night" reaching #60 in the UK, preceding their second album, What You Gonna Do featuring Manchester Harpist Katie Brett on the track "I'll Be Forever". Further singles followed during 1996 and 1997 but none repeated their earlier success. One of these, "Grandmaster", was used on the soundtrack of the 1997 film Love in Paris. A final album, Nuphonia, was released in 1997.

Laugh (disambiguation)

A laugh is an expression of mirth particular to the human species.

Laugh may also refer to:

See also

Fructose

Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a simple ketonic monosaccharide found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion. Fructose was discovered by French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1847. The name "fructose" was coined in 1857 by the English chemist William Miller. Pure, dry fructose is a very sweet, white, odorless, crystalline solid and is the most water-soluble of all the sugars. Fructose is found in honey, tree and vine fruits, flowers, berries, and most root vegetables.

Commercially, fructose is frequently derived from sugar cane, sugar beets, and corn. Crystalline fructose is the monosaccharide, dried, ground, and of high purity. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a mixture of glucose and fructose as monosaccharides. Sucrose is a compound with one molecule of glucose covalently linked to one molecule of fructose. All forms of fructose, including fruits and juices, are commonly added to foods and drinks for palatability and taste enhancement, and for browning of some foods, such as baked goods.

Sugars in wine

The sugars in wine grapes are what make winemaking possible. During the process of fermentation, sugars are broken down and converted by yeast into alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. Grapes accumulate sugars as they grow on the grapevine through the translocation of sucrose molecules that are produced by photosynthesis from the leaves. During ripening the sucrose molecules are hydrolyzed (separated) by the enzyme invertase into glucose and fructose. By the time of harvest, between 15 and 25% of the grape will be composed of simple sugars. Both glucose and fructose are six-carbon sugars but three-, four-, five- and seven-carbon sugars are also present in the grape. Not all sugars are fermentable with sugars like the five-carbon arabinose, rhamnose and xylose still being present in the wine after fermentation. Very high sugar content will effectively kill the yeast once a certain (high) alcohol content is reached. For these reasons, no wine is ever fermented completely "dry" (meaning without any residual sugar). Sugar's role in dictating the final alcohol content of the wine (and such its resulting body and "mouth-feel") sometimes encourages winemakers to add sugar (usually sucrose) during winemaking in a process known as chaptalization solely in order to boost the alcohol content - chaptalization does not increase the sweetness of a wine.