The BBC's Arlene Gregorius explores how laughter and humour helps humans cope with the strains of the credit crunch.

Key business people react to the news that major central banks have cut interest rates by half a percentage point.

Platimun One say they have scrapped plans to introduce a new All-Ireland League.

Mortgage lending steadied in July, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, but was still 51% lower than a year ago.

Aerospace firms brace themselves for potential disruption as one of Boeing's largest suppliers cuts production.

Scientists claim gene therapy has the potential to restore hearing in mice, offering hope for humans as well.

Ruqayya Jafri, 83, recalls how she lived through the two partitions of Pakistan and how they have left her partially triumphant, yet somehow scarred.

Humans are using too much nitrogen, and leaving so much of it that the natural world is struggling to cope.

The apparent cooling of the Earth in the mid-20th Century was down to different ways of measuring sea temperatures, scientists say.

Experts respond to the biggest proposed shake-up of the US financial system since the Great Depression.

New Zealand win a rain-hit game against England by four wickets to take the one-day series 3-1.

US researchers find two potential targets for treating multiple sclerosis after studying proteins in the brain.

Schools with predominantly white or Asian pupils could damage local communities and should be avoided, a report says.

Economist Kaushik Basu travels to India's north-east to find it has been left out of the economic boom.

Environmentalists are quick to blame the aviation industry, but they should focus their efforts on stopping deforestation.

Key facts, figures and dates

What's the difference between Scrabble and its online equivalent, Scrabulous? Its inventors, being sued by the game's makers, say it's that you can look up words. It might not be in the spirit of the game, but cheating has opened our eyes to some little known words.

Financial institutions are facing catastrophic losses as $1 trillion in sub-prime mortgages go bad.

Social-networking site Facebook bans members with names such as Lord, Gay and Beta, deeming them "illegitimate".

India beat England by 38 runs under the D/L method to bring the one-day series back to 3-2 with two matches left.