These words speak to Life's absolute dependence on water - and to some very real concerns about the availability and fate of our most precious resource; water - the sustaining matrix of life!

Physically it is fascinating! "Water finds its way into just about any niche in the Universe that will have it." [Philip Ball] There is water on the Sun, and water on the Moon. There is water on the earth - in us, around us, above and below us! It is the only substance on earth able to exist naturally in all three physical states: liquid, solid and gas. It is a geologic force capable of shaping mountains and coastlines - at times with a might unleashed by the destructive fury of hurricanes and floods. It is the fabric of snow, hail, steam and ice. One of Plato's four elements, yet not an element after all, but a compound - a molecule; and one so unique that the history of the discovery of its properties reveals to us the very nature of scientific inquiry - the very methods of science.

To grasp the ramifications of water's existence we must touch on its origins, it history, its incredible pervasiveness. The "ice-nine" of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" exists - but I do not fear it. Ice-nine cannot exist above -150º F. But there are 13 other forms of ice!

Yes, water on the sun and moon, at the heart of molecular biology, at the core of the cell and perhaps enough of it beneath the earth's surface to refill the oceans 30 times over. Yet we discover - from the standpoint of the survival of life on earth - rare as well. Our use, misuse and abuse of the earth's most vital resource is fast becoming our most central political, biological and economic issue. Swelling populations and unchecked development have stressed fresh water supplies beyond repair. Political struggles for the control of water now rage around the globe - even while we pollute the very substance that sustains our lives.

Come be a part of the discussion surrounding the nature and use of the very matrix of life!