This Cape Town startup wants to help send your laugh to space

A new iOS app, called Laugh, could send your chuckle into space.

The app was designed in conjunction with NASA’s Made in Space division, developer Platoon, 3D artist Eyal Gever, Knut Studios and Cape Town startup Gravity Ideas .

“NASA recently (space)shipped the first zero-gravity 3D printer to the International Space Station. Although its main function is to help astronauts build tools and spare parts in case of emergencies, NASA’s Made in Space team seized the opportunity to do something pretty special,” said David Perrott, Gravity’s co-founder.

Working with Eyal Gever, the company helped to create an easy-to-use app which allows people from all around the world to record their laughter as soundscapes.

The #Laugh App is live! Such a privilege working with @eyalgever and @weareplatoon on this remarkable project. https://t.co/8tNCPvg91M

— Gravity (@gravityideas) December 5, 2016

Users then get to vote on the “world’s best laugh” which will be beamed to the International Space Station and 3D printed as a “celebration of our common humanity”.

“All too often today, when we think about ourselves and others, we define ourselves by difference. We focus on what makes us unique — what makes me, ‘me’ — and we tend to understand others in relation to that,” Perrot continued.

Laugh (the app, that is) is only available for iOS users

“In a world defined by difference — different points of view, different histories, different languages, and different lived experiences — it’s hard to think of there being anything that is truly universal.”

Laughter is essentially a language on its own, an ancient one at that, mentions neuroscientist Sophie Scott.

“You’re doing something when you laugh with people, that’s actually letting you access a really ancient evolutionary system that mammals have evolved to make and maintain social bonds, and clearly to regulate emotions, to make ourselves feel better.”