Water memory is a concept, basic to homeopathy, which holds that water is capable of containing "memory" of particles dissolved in it. This memory allows water to retain the properties of the original solute even when there is literally no solute left in the solution. The idea is dismissed by mainstream science as pseudoscience. Samuel Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy Homeopathy (also spelled homœopathy or homoeopathy) from the Greek words όμοιος, hómoios (similar) and πάθος, páthos (suffering), is a controversial system of alternative medicine. ... Water (from the Old English word wæter; c. ... A substance is soluble in a fluid if it dissolves in the fluid. ... Phrenology is seen today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ...

The most prominent advocate of this idea was the French immunologist Jacques Benveniste, who attempted to construct a mechanistic explanation for homeopathy. He has gone so far as to say this information may even be transmitted via telephone or the Internet. His results have not been successfully replicated in other laboratories. Jacques Benveniste (March 12, 1935 - October 3, 2004) was a prominent French immunologist. ... The telephone or phone (Greek: tele = far away and phone = voice) is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly voice and speech) across distance. ...

There was a short-lived discussion on a reproduction of the results by Benveniste by other scientific laboratories in a research led by Professor Madeleine Ennis of Queen's University, Belfast, compare the list of references. However, subsequential research has not provided more evidence. To the contrary, skeptic James Randi placed a $1 million challenge to the BBC Horizon team to prove the "water memory" theory. Experiments were conducted in a proper scientific manner, with the Vice-President of the Royal Society, Professor John Enderby, overseeing the experiment. The challenge ended with the Horizon team failing to prove the memory of water. James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge, August 7, 1928 in Toronto, Canada), more often known as The Amazing Randi, is a stage magician, a skeptic, and an opponent of pseudoscience. ... Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national public service broadcaster of the United Kingdom (see British television). ... The premises of the Royal Society in London. ...

According to many experts the claims of healing by homeopathy are related to the placebo effect, compare, e.g., the research results of White et al.(see external links). The placebo effect (placebo, translating from Latin as I shall please, is also known as non-specific effects and the subject-expectancy effect) is the phenomenon that a patients symptoms can be alleviated by an otherwise ineffective treatment, since the individual expects or believes that it will work. ...

Polywater

During the 1960s, Soviet scientist Boris Derjaguin developed an experimental model of anomalous behaviour in water, called polywater. In some ways it was analagous to the current concept of water memory. Derjaguin's work led to a brief flurry of research interest in the field before it was determined that his findings resulted from poorly controlled experiments and improperly cleaned glassware. The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Soviet redirects here. ... Professor Boris Vladimirovich Derjaguin (August 9, 1902 - May 16, 1994) was one of the greatest Russian chemists on the twentieth century. ... Polywater was a hypothetical polymerized form of water that was the subject of much scientific controversy during the late 1960s. ...

See also

• Junk science
• Masaru Emoto
• Meridian (Chinese medicine)
• Protoscience
• Pseudoscience
• Scientific misconduct

Junk or bunk science is a pejorative term used to derogate purportedly scientific data, research, analyses or claims which are driven by perceived political, financial or other questionable motives. ... Masaru Emoto, born July 22, 1943 in Yokohama, Japan, is best known for his controversial claim that if human thoughts are directed at water before it is frozen, images of the resulting water crystals will be beautiful or ugly depending upon whether the thoughts were positive or negative. ... The concept of meridians (Chinese: jing-luo) arises from the techniques and doctrines of traditional Chinese medicine including acupuncture and acupressure. ... --203. ... Phrenology is seen today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research. ...

References

• "Transatlantic Transfer of Digitized Antigen Signal by Telephone Link," J. Benveniste, P. Jurgens, W. Hsueh and J. Aissa, "Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology - Program and abstracts of papers to be presented during scientific sessions AAAAI/AAI.CIS Joint Meeting February 21-26, 1997"
• "Thanks for the memory" Milgrom, L. Guardian, The (newspaper) 15.03.2001

External link

• DigiBio — Jacques Benveniste's water memory research company.
• http://thorax.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/58/4/317] — Study by White et al. on homeopathy.
• [1] — A critical account on the BBC horizon program by Morag Kerr, Vetlab Services.