Indus worm Indus worm The skōlex (Indus Worm or the horrible Indian worm), in ancient Greek writings, was a supposed giant, white, carnivorous worm with a large pair of teeth that lived in the Indus River. Gustav Oppert in the 19th century reasoned that "skōlex" referred to a like-sounding word in the Indian language, and was convinced the word was "culukī" () for "fish" or "porpoise". In his opinion, the word could refer even to a "crocodile" by extension. Scholar Erik Seldeslachts, in a 1998 paper, has suggested parallel with "kṛmiḥ" () which has the duel meaning of "worm" and a name
Crying of emotions as reflexes prior to rational thought, believing that the physiological response, as if to stress or irritation, is a precondition to cognitively becoming aware of emotions such as fear or anger. William H. Frey II, a biochemist at the University of Minnesota, proposed that people feel "better" after crying due to the elimination of hormones associated with stress, specifically adrenocorticotropic hormone. This, paired with increased mucosal secretion during crying, could lead to a theory that crying is a mechanism developed in humans to dispose of this stress hormone when levels grow too high. However, tears have a limited