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 ...

It's such a natural reaction, but how did this custom begin?

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 ...

In a scene toward the end of the 2006 film, "X-Men: The Last Stand," a character claps and sends a shock wave that knocks out an opposing army. Sunny Jung, professor of biological and environmental ...

Kid Rock had a meltdown and stormed off stage because the audience wasn’t clapping along to his performance. The controversial musician, 54, made a surprise appearance at JBJ’s Nashville — a bar and ...

Nearly every human culture uses clapping to cheer, protest, pray or perform – but a new study reveals that the familiar gesture is as much a scientific event as it is a social one. “This is the first ...

If you’ve ever attended a classical concert, you’ve probably experienced that awkward, hesitant half-clapping that sometimes occurs at the end of a symphonic movement: The music stops, the hall falls ...

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 ...