Hand clapping is ubiquitous behavior for humans across time and cultures, serving many different purposes: to signify approval with applause, for instance, or to keep time to music. Acousticians often ...

It's such a natural reaction to something impressive or joyous that you might never have thought to question it. But why do we show our appreciation, approval, or even happiness by noisily clapping ...

If wordlessly clapping your hands to make as much noise as possible feels like a rather primitive thing to do, you’d be quite right. It’s thought that the origins of applause lie far, far back in the ...