Why do we cry? Crying makes sense if smoke gets in your eyes or if you’re cutting onions. The tears protect your vision. But what good is emotional crying? Crying often seems to make people feel better when they are sad or upset. A scientist in St. Paul, Minnesota, is investigating the reason for this. Dr. William Frey studied the behavior of a group of people when they cried; 85 percent of the women and 73 percent of the men said they felt better after crying. Frey believes that emotional weeping helps to reduce suffering by ridding the body of harmful chemicals. Such chemicals, he believes, are produced during stress. The chemicals can raise blood pressure, harm digestion, and increase the heartbeat. To test his theory, Frey has been collecting sad tears, drop by drop. He pays men and women to watch sad movies and catch their own tears in a test tube. He has found that about 60 percent of the viewers will cry if the theater is dark and they aren’t crowded close together. During the movies, Frey also records signs of stress, such as fast heartbeat and high blood pressure, to see if crying reduces these.