Tears often leave our faces feeling (and tasting) salty, but a closer look reveals the intricate patterns they can leave behind.

Norm Barker, director of pathology photography at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, focused his microscope on a human teardrop, using a lighting technique to enhance contrast. Barker saw that as it started to dry, the salt and other substances in the teardrop bunched together and crystalized in these intricate, snowflakelike shapes.

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