Dr. Masaru Emoto is currently very active on the lecture circuit
presenting his research into altering water molecules through the use
of prayer and outside subjective forces. The word "love" produces a
snowflake, the word "hate" produces unpleasing images.

He claims that this has been presented to over 150 peer reviewed
sources, but I can find no validation of this.

Question 1 - Are there any ACCREDITED US peer reviewed scientific
journals that his work has been submitted to and accepted?

Question 2 - If research had been submitted to a peer reviewed
scientific journal would it be reasonable to be expect to find that
online?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 19 Apr 2005 12:06 PDT

cybermonsters-ga,

I just saw "What the Bleep" a few days ago, and when they did the
scence with the water crystal photos I could only think..."That's
odd!".

I think the mention of 150 peer reviewed papers for Dr. Emoto is
probably a mix-up of some sort.

At the What the Bleep website, you can read a short bio of Dr. Emoto,
followed immediately by one for another person in the film, Dr.
Hammerhoff:


-----
http://www.whatthebleep.com/scientists/

Dr. Masaru Emoto (www.masaru-emoto.net) Although Dr. Emoto does not
appear in the film, his research and stunning photographs of water
crystals do. When Amanda misses her train she stumbles onto an exhibit
of the water photographs. The information is so amazing that many
viewers have asked "Is this real?".

Dr. Emoto published his work in two books The Message of Water, Vol 1
and 2. He has just released his 3rd book The Hidden Messages in Water.

...Stuart Hameroff M.D. (www.quantumconsciousness.org) is a Professor
in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology, and Director of
the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona in
Tucson, Arizona....Dr. Hameroff?s publications include 150 peer
reviewed papers...
-----


so you can see, it's Hammerhoff with the 150 peer reviewed papers,
while Emoto is more into writing books.


However, Emoto does have at least one publication in a peer reviewed
journal.  Should I post that information as an answer to your
question, along with information about seeing an actual copy of the
paper?


Let me know.


pafaBleepinglafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by cybermonsters-ga on 19 Apr 2005 15:32 PDT

Yes, if it applies specifically to this water experiment that shows
the effects of words like "love" to create snowflake type structures.

Hello cybermonsters-ga,

Dr. Emoto's one peer-reviewed published paper appears to be this one:


-----
Healing with Water
Masaru Emoto
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 
Feb 2004, Vol. 10, No. 1: 19-21
-----


You can download a copy of the paper (for a fairly hefty fee of $29)
directly from the JACM website at:


http://www.liebertonline.com/toc/acm/10/1;jsessionid=jV2-kSTVgTBg


If you have access to the EBSCO database, Alt HealthWatch (available
at many libraries and universities), you can retrieve a copy of the
article through this database as well.



In addition, the paper explicitly invites readers to request
reprints directly from Dr. Emoto:


Address reprint requests to:

Masaru Emoto, M.D.
I.H.M. Research Institute
East Side Building, 1F
1-1-11 Yanagibashi
Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0052
Japan
E-mail: info@hado.net



The paper contains a number of photos of frozen water, both crystals
and non-crystals, and describes the effects on the crystal formation
of various stimulants such as playing rock vs classical music, or
wrapping the water vials in words such as "Love & Thanks" (in
Japanese) or "Devil"

The paper also discusses the apparent healing effects of what Dr.
Emoto calls "HADO waters".


I trust this information fully meets your needs, but if you require
any additional information, just let me know by posting a Request for
Clarification, and I'm at your service.


All the best,

pafalafa-ga



search strategy:

Google search on [ masura emoto "peer reviewed" ], along with a
search of several medical literature databases.

---

Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 20 Apr 2005 09:07 PDT

If the JACM link gives you any trouble, try this one instead:


http://www.liebertonline.com/toc/acm/10/1


Also note a closely-related article in the same issue that is
available from JACM at the above link for no charge:


Quanta and Coherence Effects in Water and Living Systems
Cyril W. Smith
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Feb 2004, Vol. 10, No. 1: 69-78

---

Request for Answer Clarification by cybermonsters-ga on 21 Apr 2005 02:08 PDT

Hello,
Yes, I do need clarification. Would this journal be considered
credible by the scientific community at large? I would question why it
was not submitted to a mainstream science journal. Would you consider
it suspect that an alternative medicine journal is the only one
submitted to? Does this journal meet the same academic standards as a
standard journal accepted by the scientific community?

---

Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 21 Apr 2005 05:54 PDT

I'm glad to add what perspective I can, from my vantage point as a
microbiologist with more than 25 years in the field.

Mary Ann Liebert Inc -- the publisher of JACM -- is a well-respected
publisher of numerous scientific journals.

However, the title of this particular journal -- Journal of
Alternative and Complementary Medicine -- should tell you right away
that the topic matter is not mainstream medicine and science, but the
variety of practices like acupuncture or meditation that lie outside
the main areas of medical science.

JACM is a peer-reviewed journal, and though I am not intimatley
familiar with the Journal, I have no reason to suppose that they don't
keep to fairly high standards in that regard.

However, not everything published in a peer-reviewed journal is
actually peer-reviewed!  This is true for prety much all scientific
publications, where invited articles, opinion pieces, editorials, and
news reports -- none of which are peer-reviewed -- intermingle with
the actual peer-reviewed research.

JACM is no different in this regard.  The Emoto article ran as what
they called a "PhotoEssay", and was not written up in conventional
scientific style, but was much more informal.  The label and the style
strongly suggest that the article was not peer-reviewed, but was
simply published as received.

If you head back to the link I gave you earlier:


http://www.liebertonline.com/toc/acm/10/1


you'll see that the issue of JACM has several different types of
feature articles:  Editorials, Guest Editorials, Perspectives, etc. 
It looks to me that only the category of "Original Papers" are the
types of publications that go through peer review.  The other articles
-- photoessays included -- probably do not.

There is nothing about the Emoto paper that strikes me as
"scientific".  On the other hand, it is not really presented as such,
but is simply out there as an intriguing but as-yet untested notion in
alternative medicine.

So, while it is technically accurate to say that Emoto has published
"in a peer reviewed journal", the particular piece he published does
not appear to have gone through peer review.  Furthermore, having
published a number of articles myself, I highly doubt that Dr. Emoto's
paper could survive an sort of peer review, as it simply is not
intended to -- it is not presented as a formal scientific study.

I hope that adds some useful perspective to my original answer, but
feel free to ask for any follow-up on this, if needed.


paf

---

Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 22 Apr 2005 19:37 PDT

Hello again,

I just saw the notes you posted as comments (below).  Sounds like you
have what you need, but if there's anything else I can do for you,
just let me know by responding to this note.

Thanks,

paf

Excellent answers. Thank you.

Notice you won't find either of these people peer reveiwed in anything
recognized by the scientific community.  Its Hocum people.

Thank you. I guess my next question is how can I go about having
someone duplicate his experiment and debunk him? Should be easy to do.
I downloaded the essay for Liebertonline.com and it's just a hair over
two pages, with one page being pictures. Very silly.

Thank you. I have the information I need.

I contacted Liebert Publications and they said that yes, it was peer
reviewed. It is true though that it is simply a "Photo Essay", which
is what Emoto himself titled it. There is nothing scientific about it.
I think I'll do the same with my own feces.

cybermonsters,

You canceled your other question, about Columbus's ships, before I
could post something that I think you may find interesting. I hope you
do not mind if I post it here. This is an account of the reaction of
the Aztecs to the arrival of Cortes's ships. While the large sailing
vessels were not immediately recongnized as ships, they were certainly
seen.

"A common labourer... brought the news that he had seen 'a range of
mountains, or some big hills, floating in the sea'. Montezuma...
ordered one of his four chief advisers... to go to ask the Mexican
steward near the sea if there was something strange, on the water;
and, if there were, to find out what it was...

The people concerned came back to say that the news was true: two
towers, or little hills, were to be seen on the sea, moving backwards
and forwards. The agents of Montezuma insisted on going to look for
themselves. In order not to expose themselves, they climbed a tree
near the shore, They saw that... there certainly were mountains on the
waves."

From page 48 of  "CONQUEST: CORTES, MONTEZUMA, AND THE FALL OF OLD
MEXICO," by Hugh Thomas.

Thank you for the info, that makes sense to me. I cancelled the
question because the material was released in a report a couple days
ago and I think some people are loading the answers. Thank you very
much for the info.

Is Hocum a word?  Wasn't it the "scientific community" that thought it
a dandy idea a while back to use leeches for blood letting as
treatment for everything from anemia to zymosis (yes it's a word :)? 
Wasn't it also the "scientific community" that espoused the theory of
spontaneous generation?  And balked at Pastuer and later Saulk?  And
more recently, wasn't it the "scientific community" that extolled the
merits of phen phen and viox?

annagram-ga,

Sure, the "scientific community" is sometimes wrong. But the fact that
scientists have, in the past, held some mistaken notions is not
evidence that science is bunk; it is only evidence that humans do not
and cannot know everything.

Science is not perfect, but I'll take scientific proof over
pseudoscientific metaphysical fluff any day.

I had not really asked for opinion, just paths to the evidence. I have
read Mr. Emoto's photo essay from the original source. I have reviewed
his personal statements and background. I come to the hard conclusion
that it is a total fraud. Mr. Randi offers one million dollars if Mr.
Emoto can prove his work of the photo essay, and I personally have
offered $5,000. Details and my full report are at
http://www.Religious-Science.com

It's fascinating the emotional response this simple water crystal
experiment has evoked, on this site and others.  Some rush to disprove
Dr Emoto's results, while others rush to integrate them rapidly
without question.

Hopefully "Science," at least in this century, will opt for a more
evolved & rational approach by simply seeking the truth, regardless of
what one believes it is or should be, looking with interest and
without bias of a desired outcome, starting with some agreed upon
facts, such as the methodology of this study needs be ascertained and
the experiments reproduced and shown as repeatable, or not, before any
final conclusions can be made, one way or the other.

I couldn't agree with you more. With a scientific approach it's
exciting to be proven wrong, because it means that we're one step
closed to knowing the truth. I think the religions that are currently
pushing Emoto, like Religious Science and  Unity, should watch a
little more CSI.

Someone at Scientific American doesn't seem to agree with Mr. Emoto's ideas.

[January 2005 Issue]
Quantum Quackery  
A surprise-hit film has renewed interest in applying quantum mechanics
to consciousness, spirituality and human potential
By Michael Shermer  

"The work of Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto, author of The Hidden
Messages in Water, is featured to show how thoughts change the
structure of ice crystals--beautiful crystals form in a glass of water
with the word "love" taped to it, whereas playing Elvis's "Heartbreak
Hotel" causes other crystals to split in two. Would his "Burnin' Love"
boil water?"

URL:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0006F4CB-F090-11BE-AD0683414B7F0000&sc=I100322

Personally I haven't found any credible Scientific Review of his work.