9 ms·

The Topography of Tears

52 points by omarfarooq 5y ago

Fnoord 5y ago
> All tears contain a variety of biological substances (including oils, antibodies and enzymes) suspended in salt water, but as Fisher saw, tears from each of the different categories include distinct molecules as well. Emotional tears, for instance, have been found to contain protein-based hormones including the neurotransmitter leucine enkephalin, a natural painkiller that is released when the body is under stress. Can this be used to detect 'fake tears' or 'fake remorse'? Or, the opposite, to prove 'real tears' or 'real remorse'? Could it be applied with regards to law, such as a lawyer proving their client has regret over their actions, or a prosecutor arguing the perpetrator does not really feel the way the defense argues they feel?
- Ajef 5y ago
  This seems "easy" to manipulate. Crying on demand is (in my experience) quite close to feeling those emotions by remembering certain situations in your life that will produce the emotions your looking to act out. So I doubt it would work for your use case very effectively.
hwestiii 5y ago
The title perhaps inspired by the Peter Carey novel “The Chemistry of Tears”?
dmux 5y ago
I see that this site gets posted quite a bit, but isn't this particular post just blog spam? 70% of the post is a quote from the linked Smithsonian article.
tosser0001 5y ago
I wish the link could go to the actual source: https://www.rose-lynnfisher.com/tears.html https://www.rose-lynnfisher.com/tears.html
jelliclesfarm 5y ago
this is mostly from a very old smithsonian article. i have that one handy in my bookmarks. that and the one that explains why 'men can't cry' as much women(due to differences in prolactin and men having larger tear glands that prevents tears from 'spilling out'). recently, there has been a rash of mad moms encouraging their sons to cry like in some kind of bizarre social experiment when the poor dears are not biologically built to turn on the waterworks like we can.

52 points by omarfarooq 5y ago

> All tears contain a variety of biological substances (including oils, antibodies and enzymes) suspended in salt water, but as Fisher saw, tears from each of the different categories include distinct molecules as well. Emotional tears, for instance, have been found to contain protein-based hormones including the neurotransmitter leucine enkephalin, a natural painkiller that is released when the body is under stress. Can this be used to detect 'fake tears' or 'fake remorse'? Or, the opposite, to prove 'real tears' or 'real remorse'? Could it be applied with regards to law, such as a lawyer proving their client has regret over their actions, or a prosecutor arguing the perpetrator does not really feel the way the defense argues they feel?

Ajef 5y ago
This seems "easy" to manipulate. Crying on demand is (in my experience) quite close to feeling those emotions by remembering certain situations in your life that will produce the emotions your looking to act out. So I doubt it would work for your use case very effectively.

hwestiii 5y ago

The title perhaps inspired by the Peter Carey novel “The Chemistry of Tears”?

dmux 5y ago

I see that this site gets posted quite a bit, but isn't this particular post just blog spam? 70% of the post is a quote from the linked Smithsonian article.

tosser0001 5y ago

I wish the link could go to the actual source: https://www.rose-lynnfisher.com/tears.html https://www.rose-lynnfisher.com/tears.html

jelliclesfarm 5y ago

this is mostly from a very old smithsonian article. i have that one handy in my bookmarks. that and the one that explains why 'men can't cry' as much women(due to differences in prolactin and men having larger tear glands that prevents tears from 'spilling out'). recently, there has been a rash of mad moms encouraging their sons to cry like in some kind of bizarre social experiment when the poor dears are not biologically built to turn on the waterworks like we can.