title: Water, from Gilgamesh Epic to Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman: a look into polywater and the memory of water.
abstract: Water is a complex source of imagination, dreams and rituals, where cultural differences ebb and flow, where a plethora of meanings and interpretations interlink and wash over one another. Water has an ambivalent character as stated in most of the ancient cosmogonies and in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Water's composition was discovered by the London scientist Henry Cavendish in about 1781. Although it is an apparently simple molecule (H2O), it has a highly complex and anomalous character. The anomalous properties of water are those where the behavior of liquid water is quite different from what is found with other liquids. As often stated, life depends indeed on these anomalous properties of water. Notably there are 12 phase, 22 density, 12 material, 11 thermodynamic and 9 physical anomalies. A powerful look into the water molecule was given by Nobel Prize recipient Richard P. Feynman as published in Six easy pieces. A look into the most recent quest for more knowledge about water leads us to the concept of pathological science. The cases of "polywater" and "the memory of water" are indeed paradigmatic episodes of fraudulent research published in journals with high impact factors. In conclusion, men came out of water engineered to handle water, and water greatly affects mythology and philosophy and is a strong presence in the arts and science.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy. luca.desanto@ospedalemonaldi.it
authors.forename: Luca Salvatore
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: De Santo
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bisaccia
authors.forename: Rosa Maria
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: De Santo
mesh_terms: D049671:History, 18th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D009613:Nobel Prize; D010825:Physics / Q000266:history; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water