Why do only humans cry tears

heck, sometimes it just feels like all my cells are a tingle and crying is just a pressure relief valve for all that chemo-electical overload.


Oh, but someone do tell me more about the difference in chemical composition of tears under different emotional or physical impulses.

heck, sometimes it just feels like all my cells are a tingle and crying is just a pressure relief valve for all that chemo-electical overload. _________________ Oh, but someone do tell me more about the difference in chemical composition of tears under different emotional or physical impulses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears

Oh yeah smaripants - just google the damn thing :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
As usual, stuff turns out more complex and interesting when one take a closer look.
Whoda guessed

Chemicals in tears[edit] On a study conducted by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, emotional tears from women have been found to reduce sexual arousal in men. Also, emotional tears are made up of a different chemical component than those evoked by eye irritants and can relay chemical messages to others.[16] The change in sex drive could be attributed to a drop in testosterone provoked by the tear chemicals, reducing aggression. In the animal world, it has been found that some blind mole rats rub tears all over their bodies as a strategy to keep aggressive mole rats away.[17] Tear composition varies from tear types. Mainly, tears are composed of water, salts, antibodies and lysozymes (antibacterial enzymes). According to a discovery by Dr. William H. Frey II, a bio-chemist from St. Paul Ramsey medical center in Minnesota, the composition of tears caused by emotion differs from that of tears as a reaction to irritations, such as onion fumes, dust or allergy. Emotional tears are composed of more protein-based hormones, such as prolactin, adrenocorticotropic, and leucine enkephalin (a natural pain killer), which is suggested to be the mechanism behind the experience of crying from emotion making an individual feel better.[18]
That first part made me think of an activist for woman I'd heard interviewed long long ago (probably on Fresh Air) - who's revelation came, when she was a young lady hitchhiking and she got into a car, only to discover a guy that exuded bad intent - on reflex, she broke down into tears turning to him and thanking him profusely for picking her up because she was running from some bad guy who wanted to do her harm and she was so scared, and that she really really appreciated his help. Suddenly this ominous threat turned into a protective brother-type character - and the rest of the ride etc. turn out just fine. And she got an insight into human behavior that sorta chanced the direction of her life.

Oh great, now we have to factor in blind mole rats, rubbing tears all over their bodies. Occam’s razor is going to get dulled… Unless… the explanation given for the tear bathing by blind mole rats, could cover the “why” of all species that shed emotional tears, i.e., to reduce aggression in others. That would even explain John Boehner’s prodigious teariness (as he was faced by potential aggression from every direction).