Water is clearly one of the most important factors in terms of what you put into your body, simply because without it you will die within a few short days. You may know that two-thirds of your body is water, but did you know that in terms of the number of molecules, your body actually consists of over 99 percent water molecules!

Astounding, isn't it?

For years, Dr. Pollack had been doing research on muscles and how they contract, but it struck him as odd that the most common ideas about muscle contraction do not involve water, despite muscle tissue consisting of 99 percent water molecules.

"So I became interested in water," Dr. Pollack says. "We've been doing research in my laboratory at the University of Washington for some 10 years now on water. The book that I wrote in 2001, it's called Cells, Gels, and the Engines of Life, talks about the role of water in cell biology. Water is absolutely central."

Yet textbooks by and large completely ignore the presence of water in your organs, muscles and tissues. Dr. Pollack's book addresses this discrepancy and brings to the fore the role of water.

"The central message of that book is that if you don't understand how water interacts with the components of the cell, you haven't a clue of how the cell works," he says.

Interestingly enough, if you're like most people, you probably think we've got water all figured out. But according to Dr. Pollack, this is far from true. In fact, "those in the field know that it's absolutely not true. We haven't a clue how water works," he says. So here we are in 2011, and even now leading scientists like Dr. Pollack are just starting to pick at the tip of the iceberg in terms of understanding the foundational basis of water!

"In our lab, we've been focusing mainly on water structure near interfaces. Your body, of course, is filled with interfaces. Inside the cell, it's mainly proteins, nucleic acids, and salts. They're all interfacing with water," Dr. Pollack says.

"So the central question is: what happens when water interfaces with those constituents? Does it change? Does it remain the same? This is where we've made some important discoveries."