Hobbies And Interests
Pure Water Sources
Dr. Emoto concluded, after photographing crystals from water sources around the world, that the most beautiful, geometric water crystals come from the purest water sources. Often, they are hexagon-based symmetrical shapes, which are the most common crystalline forms found in nature.
Polluted Water
Dr. Emoto's experiments on water sources that were contaminated with chlorine, polluted water, or acid rain apparently failed to form crystals at all or only managed to form partial crystals. Some rivers, such as the Shimano River, formed perfect crystals higher up the river, but further down where more contamination had entered the water, crystals failed to form, according to Dr. Emoto's research.
Use of Sounds and Words
Interestingly--and almost unbelievably--Dr. Emoto claims that the use of sounds and words has an effect on the water crystals created and, therefore, on the quality of the water itself. For instance, on the Institute of Science in Society website, Dr. Mae-Wan Ho says that when Dr. Emoto played Bach's Air for the G String and the Tibet Sutra near distilled water that had failed to form crystals initially, beautiful crystals were created from it subsequently. The United Earth website illustrates how the sample of distilled water that was played heavy metal music did not form crystals or any kind of cohesive pattern.
Dr. Emoto's experiments with words have involved both spoken language and messages on paper taped to the side of vessels containing water. The United Earth website shows Dr. Emoto's photographs from one of these experiments and points out that phrases such as "love and appreciation" and "thank you" were reported to have caused the water to create pretty, geometrical crystals whereas phrases such as "you make me sick" produced a result similar to that of polluted water. It also reports that, as part of Dr. Emoto's studies, a Buddhist monk prayed over some polluted water from the Fujiwara Dam for an hour, after which it supposedly produced crystals as beautiful as from a pure water source.
Validity
Jon Woodhouse of the "Maui News" quotes John Olmsted, an adjunct instructor in psychology at Portland State University and member of the Skeptics Society, as saying of Dr. Emoto's water crystal experiments: "There has been no replication by other scientists, no control groups, and no publications in reputable peer-reviewed scientific journals." Woodhouse points out that the work of Dr. Emoto had actually been published in the "Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine" (February 2004, Vol. 10, No. 1). However, his research remains controversial, and Dr. Emoto himself says he does not claim to be a scientist. Kenneth G. Libbrecht from the California Institute of Technology describes the physics behind the formation of snow and ice crystals as complicated and says that temperature and humidity have a great effect upon the shape of the crystals formed. It is entirely possible that variables not taken into account by Dr. Emoto have affected the results of his experiments.