I AM fascinated by water. We can all agree that a liquid that occupies 70 per cent of Earth's surface and two-thirds of our body is very important. However, when I tell friends and family that I have dedicated 15 years of my life to studying water, they look at me with pity. Don't we already know everything about water? Then they suggest that, as a physicist, I should be studying something less common, such as carbon nanotubes.
It is a mistake to underestimate water. The more you look into it, the less common it seems.
Water is weird. It has 72 anomalies – physical and chemical properties that are very different from other materials. For scientists, anomalies can be the basis of technological breakthroughs. This was the case with silicon – its unusual properties have given us semiconductors, and hence the digital technology that has transformed our lives. ...
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