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 ...

A round of applause, please: Scientists have finally figured out what’s behind the sound of clapping. The research pinpoints a mechanism called a Helmholtz resonator — the same acoustic concept that ...

Researchers deserve a round of applause for uncovering the science behind the acoustics produced from hand clapping that had not been clearly understood until recently. The daily gesture that people ...

This post is co-authored by Ron Riggio and nonverbal communication expert Alan Crawley. When and why do we clap? We get startled, and we clap. We try to get our dog’s (or our child’s) attention, and ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American New Orleans, October 16, 2012 - You walk into ...

Scientists have finally unravelled the complex process that generates sound during handclaps, a discovery that shows how even simple acts can be rich with physics. The key to generating sound from ...

Scientists have developed an app to understand why some rhythms are more difficult to perform than others. Scientists at Queen Mary University of London have developed an app to understand why some ...

Good news for those who struggle to bop to the beat, clap at the wrong time and bump into everyone on the dance floor: You may have an excuse. Researchers are working on defining a new kind of sensory ...