InstagramAt least Gwyneth Paltrow keeps an open mind...
In the May 29 edition of Goop, the Mortdecai actress, 41, revealed that she is "fascinated by the growing science behind the energy of consciousness and its effects on matter." In particular, Paltrow said she loves a book by Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto, The Hidden Messages in Water. "I have long had Dr. Emoto's coffee table book on how negativity changes the structure of water, how the molecules behave differently depending on the words or music being expressed around it," she wrote.
Emoto's work has often been criticized by his peers and is widely considered to be pseudoscience.
Still, the Oscar-winning mother of two asked her friend, Dr. Habib Sadeghi, to explain Emoto's theory.
"Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto performed some of the most fascinating experiments on the effect that words have on energy in the 1990s," he wrote. "In his experiments, Emoto poured pure water into vials labeled with negative phrases like 'I hate you' or 'Fear.' After 24 hours, the water was frozen, and no longer crystallized under the microscope: It yielded grey, misshapen clumps instead of beautiful lace-like crystals. In contrast, Emoto placed labels that said things like 'I love you' or 'Peace' on vials of polluted water, and after 24 hours, they produced gleaming, perfectly hexagonal crystals."
Emoto tested the power of spoken words in a separate experiment. To do so, he placed two cups of cooked white rice in two separate mason jars and fixed the lids in place, labeling one jar "Thank You" and the other "You Fool." The jars were left in an elementary school classroom, Dr. Sadeghi wrote, and the students were instructed to speak the words on the labels to the corresponding jars twice a day. "After 30 days, the rice in the jar that was constantly insulted had shriveled into a black, gelatinous mass," he said. "The rice in the jar that was thanked was as white and fluffy as the day it was made."
Sounds a little fishy, no?