We’re all familiar with (hic) the mildly uncomfortable sensation (hic) that is hiccups (hic).
Perhaps you swallowed a bit too much air at once, downed your lunch with incredible speed or took a swig of something overly carbonated or alcoholic. Maybe you laughed at a phenomenal joke for way too long — or maybe you simply became over-excited for no reason at all.
The fact is, any one of these things (and a great many more) can set off a round of hiccups. And while most attacks occur sparingly and linger for only a few minutes, they can sometimes spiral out of control. Nearly 4,000 Americans are hospitalized for hiccups each year, after all.
All this begs the question: At what point in our evolution did humans pick up hiccuping? And, beyond being an inconvenience, what is its purpose? Scientists have a few theories.
