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Tears can be triggered by everything from sorrow to happiness, and even the act of chopping onions. While most people simply view their tears as nothing more than salty droplets to be wiped away, there are those who collect them. These collectors often come from fields like science, art, and business—curious individuals who are driven to explore the properties and potential uses of overlooked substances, even if they happen to be bodily fluids.
These tear collectors are redefining the phrase 'I'll give you something to cry about.' Thanks to their efforts, we may one day see tears being used in critical health tests, powering innovative technologies, or even adding a unique touch to gourmet foods and beverages. Here are ten of the most intriguing, peculiar, and mind-boggling stories about why people do—or don't—gather tears.
10. Tears Might Be Collected to Track Health
Tears could be more accurately described as filtered blood rather than just salty water. They contain traces of glucose, chemicals, and enzymes commonly found in blood, prompting scientists to wonder if they could use tears to identify health markers. The answer appears to be yes—tears can literally leak information about the body’s condition.
Tears can reveal markers for serious conditions, including cancer and Parkinson’s. There is already technology that allows tears to be used as an alternative to mammograms in breast cancer detection. Additionally, the tears of mice have been found to contain indicators of environmental pollution and drug abuse.
These findings are significant because, unlike blood samples, tears can be collected non-invasively. A small amount is constantly present in our eyes, offering potential for continuous health monitoring. NASA, for example, explored this in 2018, suggesting that astronauts’ tears might offer valuable insights into the long-term effects of space travel on human health.
9. It’s Unlikely They Were Collected During Mourning in Ancient Times
Recent scientific studies have cast doubt on the commonly held belief that certain tear-collecting practices from the past involved mourning rituals. One such practice involved a narrow, often ornately decorated glass bottle known as a 'lachrymatory' or 'tear catcher.'
The discovery of these tear bottles in ancient Greek and Roman tombs led people to assume they were used in mourning. A popular myth developed, suggesting that mourners would cry into these bottles and bury them with the deceased. These bottles were thought to symbolize the mourner’s status, implying that those who shed many tears after death were highly respected during their lives.
The Victorians were believed to use tear bottles during mourning rituals. They would fill the bottle with their tears, and once the tears had evaporated, it would signal the end of their mourning period. However, scholars offer a less sentimental theory: these bottles were actually used for perfume.
The tales of tear bottles were likely a clever marketing strategy by those looking to sell them. Despite the fact that these claims may have been fabricated, they were effective—many people still purchase these bottles today, under the impression that they are tear catchers, presumably to use them for catching their own tears.
8. Tears Can Be Used to Make Bitters
One of the oddest uses of tears so far is turning them into bitters, with the goal of adding a touch of emotional bitterness. This was the concept introduced by food art company Bompas & Parr, who hosted a workshop in 2015, teaching participants how to brew bitters from their own tears. They did, however, assure attendees that the tears' impact on the flavor would be minimal.
The tears were labeled as an 'emotional infusion,' but the strong alcohol and various herbs and spices would overpower their effect. Participants could rest easy knowing their drinks wouldn’t taste like saline solution. To help ensure that the workshop attendees could actually cry, the organizers created a 'corner of repose' and provided menthol tear sticks, typically used by actors, to help trigger tears.
Interestingly, the project drew partial inspiration from the lachrymatory myth. However, these bitters were never intended to be made for mourning or wallowing in sorrow. Instead, it was suggested that they be given as unique Christmas presents.
7. Bottled Tears Were Used to Raise Mental Health Awareness
The fleeting nature of fame gained from reality television is often hard to maintain. Contestants who rise to prominence through popular shows typically have only a brief window to capitalize on their newfound fame before they fade from the public eye.
In 2017, Chris Hughes, a British farmer who rose to fame on the reality show *Love Island*, seemed to be making the most of his brief moment in the spotlight by launching his own distinctive brand of mineral water. Labeled 'L’Eau de Chris,' the water was advertised as 'mineral water infused with a Chris Hughes tear.' The quirky product was introduced in a black-and-white promotional video on Hughes's social media, showing a tear rolling down his face and into the bottle.
While some people found the idea revolting and questioned its hygiene, their concerns were quickly alleviated. The tear-infused water was revealed the following day as a publicity stunt for World Mental Health Day. In a subsequent video, Hughes explained how it was 'ludicrous that men bottle up their emotions every single day.'
6. The Noah Cyrus Tears Hoax
Chris Hughes wasn't the only one to joke about selling bottled tears. In 2018, singer Noah Cyrus saw an opportunity to turn her messy breakup with rapper Lil Xan into a marketing stunt. The daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and sister of Miley Cyrus released a merchandise line centered around her heartbreak. It featured a T-shirt with her famous father's face and the words 'achy, breaky.' However, the most attention-grabbing item was a bottle of her tears, priced at a whopping $12,000.
While it’s not entirely outlandish that a celebrity would sell bottled tears—Scarlett Johansson once auctioned a used tissue and William Shatner sold a kidney stone—this was purely a publicity stunt. Noah likely didn’t expect anyone to seriously attempt to buy the bottle. However, she underestimated the power of parasocial relationships. One of her fans launched a GoFundMe campaign to buy the bottle and raised over $1,000. Cyrus eventually stepped in, offering to refund the donors and give them a backstage pass to her show.
5. Tears Have Been Used to Create Cheese
Synthetic biology is a scientific field focused on modifying living organisms to give them new characteristics. These modifications can involve large entities, like animals, or microscopic ones, such as bacteria and viruses. This field holds the potential to benefit a variety of industries, including medicine, agriculture, and even cheesemaking.
In 2013, American scientist Christina Agapakis teamed up with Norwegian scent expert Sissel Tolaas for a unique collaboration. They collected bacteria from human bodies and grew it in milk to create cheeses. Some of the bacteria used came from the tears of artist Olafur Eliasson, while writer Michael Pollan contributed bacteria from his belly button.
The cheeses were said to smell like the body odor of their respective donors, and they would have tasted similarly if they had been created for consumption. However, these cheeses were part of an exhibition at the Science Gallery in Dublin, designed to help people overcome their cultural fears of microorganisms and to highlight the potential uses of bacteria.
4. The New Pepper Spray?
No, nobody is seriously proposing that squirting tears at someone would be a viable defense against an attacker. However, research from 2023 revealed that tears—particularly those of women—may have a surprising self-defense effect. The study found that smelling women’s tears could reduce male aggression by up to 43.7%, likely because tears influence brain activity.
The tears used in the study were collected from volunteers who could cry on command. To ensure the tears were emotional, the women watched a sad movie clip and collected their tears in vials once a day for up to 25 days. This lengthy process was necessary because a typical crying episode doesn’t produce much fluid—an average donation yielded only 1.6 ml.
This may explain why most studies on social chemical signals in humans have concentrated on sweat. The findings align with previous research on rats, leading scientists to propose that tears across all mammals may play a role in reducing aggression.
3. Smart Contact Lenses Could Be Powered by Tears
While augmented reality through headsets and handheld devices might seem like a modern trend, it could advance rapidly thanks to research from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. They developed a compact battery that could power smart contact lenses, one that charges itself using tears.
The battery is less than a millimeter thick but generates enough energy to power a device for an entire day. While it’s known that the lysozyme protein in tears can generate electricity under pressure, the Singapore team’s battery doesn’t rely on that.
Instead, it harnesses the sodium and chloride ions found in tears. Another benefit is that the batteries are biocompatible, meaning they’re made from materials safe for the human eye. Even with their electric power, they don’t require metal wires.
2. The Topography of Tears
Another artist who dedicated years to collecting her tears is photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher. After the death of a friend she had recently reconnected with, Fisher was filled with both grief and gratitude for their time together. Naturally, her emotions led to many tears, and one day, she became curious about what they looked like under a microscope.
Fisher collected a tear on a glass slide and magnified it 100 times with a microscopy camera. The result resembled a bird’s-eye view of an unfamiliar landscape. Over the next decade, she carried slides with her to collect tear samples whenever she cried, whether from sorrow, joy, or even the irritation of chopping onions.
Not every tear made it into her project, though. Fisher maintained her artistic sensibility and only selected the most meaningful and visually compelling images. This endeavor, called 'The Topography of Tears,' captured what she referred to as her 'emotional terrain.'
1. Collecting Tears on the Canvas
It took six women to produce enough tears for the aggression study, but the Argentinian artist Leandro Granato alone managed to cry out an astonishing 800 ml to create one of his paintings. Unlike the emotional depths required for most artists, Granato’s technique doesn’t rely on genuine sadness or tragedy for inspiration. Instead, the only requirement is that his tears must contain paint.
Granato achieves this by snorting paint into his nose. As a child, he discovered that liquids inserted into his nose could emerge from his eye. Instead of crying, he squirts the paint out of his eye, creating the abstract splatters that define his artwork. His family initially thought he was crazy, but Granato’s paintings have fetched over $1,000 each, proving the value of his unique approach, which he calls eye-painting.
