Double-Blind Test of the Effects of Distant Intention on Water Crystal Formation
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Plain English Summary
Can people send good vibes to water from 5,000 miles away and change how it freezes? That's what this study tested. Based on Emoto's idea that positive thoughts create prettier ice crystals, about 2,000 people in Tokyo focused kind intentions toward water locked in a shielded room in California. An analyst who didn't know which samples were which photographed 40 crystals, and 100 judges rated their beauty. The 'intention' crystals scored significantly higher, confirmed by a second group of judges. The effect was impressively large. But here's the catch: those 40 crystals came from just 4 bottles, so the true independent sample size is tiny. A later follow-up added stricter triple-blind controls.
Research Notes
First double-blind test of Emoto's water crystal hypothesis. The large effect size (d ≈ 1.04) is notable but based on only 40 crystal images nested within 4 bottles, raising questions about effective sample size. Directly replicated with triple-blind controls by Radin et al. (2008).
A pilot study testing whether distant intention affects ice crystal formation, specifically Masaru Emoto's claim that positive intentions produce aesthetically pleasing crystals. Approximately 2,000 people in Tokyo directed positive intentions toward water samples stored in an electromagnetically shielded room at IONS in California (~5,000 miles away), while matched control samples were kept separately. An analyst blindly identified and photographed 40 ice crystals (24 treated, 16 control), which 100 independent judges rated for aesthetic appeal on a 0–6 scale. Treated crystals received significantly higher ratings (mean 2.87 vs. 1.88, t(38) = 3.27, p < .001, d ≈ 1.04). A second group of 100 raters confirmed the result (p < .002).
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📋 Cite this paper
Radin, Dean, Hayssen, Gail, Emoto, Masaru, Kizu, Takashige (2006). Double-Blind Test of the Effects of Distant Intention on Water Crystal Formation. Explore. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2006.06.004
@article{radin_2006_doubleblind,
title = {Double-Blind Test of the Effects of Distant Intention on Water Crystal Formation},
author = {Radin, Dean and Hayssen, Gail and Emoto, Masaru and Kizu, Takashige},
year = {2006},
journal = {Explore},
doi = {10.1016/j.explore.2006.06.004},
}