Tears are tears right? Who would have thought they would look completely different under a microscope? Joy and sadness are different emotions, and as it turns out they're also very different when looked at closely.

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher found that out in her series "The Topography of Tears". She put dried tears from all different kinds of situations under a microscope to see what's different between them,

She identified three types of tears. Psychic tears (happiness, sadness) are caused by extreme emotions. Basal tears, the ones made up to keep the cornea lubricated and reflex tears (caused by tear gas or onions), that come out in response.

Fisher found that they also contain different molecules. Here's what grief looks like:



And tears from laughing:



And tears from onions: