Thousands of songs have been composed about tears and almost every movie worth remembering stimulates their flow. We cry for all different reasons...whenever what we're feeling transcends what language can do. There are also reflex tears that help keep our eyes moist and lubricated and flush out things that aren't supposed to be in there. But no matter what causes these salty secretions have some interesting facts behind them. Read on.

The use of our vocal cords comes shortly after birth in the act of crying. That signals that a newborn's lungs are functional.

Male and female babies cry about the same amount, yet by their teenage years, that's no longer true. This leads psychologists to feel adult crying behaviour is mostly a learned response, with kids adopting the crying behaviour of their same sex parent.

Sadness, followed by anger, sympathy and fear are the reasons most adults give for crying.

People tend to feel better after they cry leading researchers to believe tears help the body alleviate stress and cleanse itself of stress.
It's the sulphuric compounds in onions that bring tears to our eyes.

Most of our tears run down these "drainpipes," back into the nose. That's why we get runny noses when we cry.

In space, astronauts cannot cry because there is no gravity so the tears can't flow..
Tears contain the same proportion of salt as blood does. They also are made up of glucose, enzymes, hormones, oils, mucous, minerals and antibodies that protect the eyes from infection.