What is the purpose of hiccups?

It is typical for developing human fetuses to have hiccups in the womb, and yet even though we experience them throughout our lifetimes, the cause of these involuntary actions has defied explanation. read more

Until Straus and his colleagues can demonstrate a correlation between the areas of the brain that control suckling and those that trigger hiccups, the purpose of the mysterious singultus will remain just that — a mystery. read more

The purpose of a hiccup is to induce food that is more or less stuck in the tube that runs from the mouth to the stomach. It utilizes the law of static inertia (a body at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force). read more