Did you know that if a woman is having trouble getting pregnant, it might be wise to send in the clowns? Sounds hard to conceive but according to a hospital in Montreal, this might just do the trick. Researchers at McGill University Health’s reproductive centre have announced a link between fertility rates and exposure to a professionally trained, university accredited medical clown (as opposed to an amateur like your husband). In this study, the scientists hired clown specialists from Israel where they are commonly found skipping down the hospital hallways with their oversized shoes because of the evidence that laughter can help heal and alleviate stress. After a group of women who were undergoing in vitro fertilization were entertained by a medical clown (not that surgeon who messed up your grandmother’s appendectomy) for 15 minutes, embryonic implantation was performed (after the chuckling had subsided). Another group of women simply sat in the waiting room and read Newsweek magazines from 2004 then went for their scheduled egg drop. The results indicated that 36% of the women who clowned around ended up getting pregnant whereas the women who just lay there successfully bore fruit only 20% of the time. Thus, the next time you are looking to conceive, it may be wise to ask your partner to wear a big red nose to bed…