Women spend about 12,000 hours of their lifetime crying, and while there are many different reasons to cry, one scientist set out to find out if those reasons made a difference on what the tear actually looked like.
Marice Mikkers, a Dutch photographer and scientist, combined his two passions to explore his project, The Imaginarium of Tears, to see how different stimulants would change the physical makeup of tears, and how that would change the look of a tear.
”All tears contain a variety of biological substances including oils, antibodies and enzymes suspended in salt water,” Mikkers said. When frozen, he was able to take a closer look at the sample and discovered each tear was completely different. “Every tear is as unique as a snowflake. It’s very personal”
Mekkers uses a microscope to look at the frozen samples, which he collects with a micropipette before placing on a slide. At first, he enlisted the help of his friends. “The options they could voluntarily choose from where: cutting onions, eat hot peppers, look into a fan or cry because of sadness or happiness. To see if there was a resemblance or difference in the structure of forming tears, I took images of every tear drop under the microscope.”
While some tears were caused by different stimulants, every single one was unique. “I think it’s safe to say that the differences in tears that are seen are not showing differences between the origins of crying, but just show a composition of the tear itself and the circumstances it crystallised in.”
Watch the entire video below to see how Mr. Mikkers captured these incredible images.
Can you believe how unique your tears really are? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image credit: Maurice Mikkers]
One Curious Scientist Reveals What A Tear Drop Looks Like Up Close is an article from: LifeDaily