Welcome to the Commune podcast. My name is Jeff Krasnow. So today's episode is a real

tearjerker. I explore a topic that I've wanted to tackle for some time, but only recently

was finally compelled to dive in. The concept that I probe today is,

why do humans cry? I was propelled into this inquiry by my recent trip to Florida. I visited

the Sunshine State for eight glorious days, and for one reason or another, I found myself crying

on every single day,

and I'm not a famous blubberer. Remember, I released a commune course on stoicism.

Now, the interesting part of my sob fest was that each bawling session was motivated by

totally different emotions and situations.

Now, I will say that I was exhausted for much of the trip, so I was emotionally rarer than usual,

but still, the sources of my tears were as varied as snowflakes, or I suppose as grains of sand,

given my location.

So after years, I buried the proverbial hatchet

with a dear, dear old friend. I had a long and public conversation with Dr. Zach Bush about dying.

I watched a grainy home movie of old college friends getting married. The election happened.

Oh, now that. And I went to a ceremonial dinner

for my aging father at which people gave a variety of just beautiful toasts in his honor. The provenance of

my tears was equal parts happiness, wistfulness, nostalgia, and pride. And tears are just fascinating in this respect.

They show up when we're sad, when we're overwhelmed with joy, and sometimes even when we've

pushed our bodies to their limits. But what's really going on in our bodies and brains when we

cry are all tears the same? And why do humans even cry at all?

Is there a deeper evolutionary purpose to this watery expression? Well, today, I'm going beyond the

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