At first they planned to have staff members sit next to the weeping viewers with a test tube and harvest the tears. Ultimately, they just issued people test tubes and gave them the responsibility for collecting their own tears. Nearly a third couldn't cry at all. To get the best results, Frey's team found, the theater had to be very dark, and people needed not to be seated side by side, for the maximum illusion of privacy. Then they faced the question of which movies would elicit the most tangible grief.
Tastes vary, after all.
Others not only didn't cry but, as monitored by cardiac, respiratory, and somatic symptoms, apparently found the film inauthentic, tawdry and ineptly manipulative. Both contain high levels of manganese, about thirty times as much as found in serum. No one is sure why. When tears run down your face, it is because there are too many of them to drain through the nasolacrimal ducts. On the other hand, emotional tears have 21 percent more protein than reflex tears.