Why do we cry? The cop out answer, according to evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists, is simply because we’re human. But researchers are looking for better, more specific answers. Though they haven’t come up with anything conclusive yet, here are a few interesting nuggets from a recent LA Times article:
- “Regardless of age or gender, the students overwhelmingly ranked the pictures showing tears as conveying more sadness than the same faces without tears.”
- “I propose that humans evolved the ability to shed tears as a means to alleviate stress, and evolution favors this because it has survival value.”
- “Emotional tears are chemically different from tears that simply lubricate the eye… Among other things, they contain more protein.”
- “Precisely why women cry more is not known, but researchers do know that male and female tear glands are anatomically different. Female lacrimal glands, which produce tears, have smaller cells.”
Read the full thing at the Los Angeles Times. Photo by emrank.
